OpenSearch Adoption Increased as AI Workloads Expanded
The 2026 Open Data Infrastructure Report highlights a shift toward vendor-neutral platforms for generative AI.
Updated on Sept. 22, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence
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Production deployments of OpenSearch have nearly doubled to 36% over the last two years, according to the 2026 Open Data Infrastructure Report published by the Linux Foundation. The survey reveals that 62% of users now employ the platform for AI workloads, with generative AI and LLM-powered applications driving the majority of those use cases.
Why it matters
Organizations are increasingly prioritizing vendor independence to mitigate architectural and financial risk as they manage average annual infrastructure spends of $2.4 million. By moving away from single-provider ecosystems, firms aim to maintain control over critical search and retrieval operations.
The report shows that 82% of organizational AI use cases now focus on generative AI and LLMs, supported by 91% of active users leveraging the platform for core search and retrieval. With 89% of organizations now aware of the platform, adoption is increasingly driven by the need for multi-cloud capability.
The players
Intel
A semiconductor manufacturer and hardware architect that recently joined the OpenSearch Software Foundation.
Linux Foundation
A non-profit technology organization that hosts and governs open-source projects including the OpenSearch Software Foundation.
OpenSearch Software Foundation
The governing body for the OpenSearch project, tasked with maintaining a vendor-neutral roadmap for search and analytics.
AWS
A cloud computing provider that launched OpenSearch as an open-source alternative for distributed search and analytics.
The details
OpenSearch functions as an open-source search and analytics engine, originally developed by AWS under the Apache 2.0 license following the relicensing of Elasticsearch in 2021. To ensure vendor-neutral governance, the OpenSearch Software Foundation was established under the Linux Foundation in September 2024. The platform provides a distributed architecture that enables organizations to query large datasets while avoiding the lock-in associated with proprietary cloud-specific tools.
Timeline
2021: Elasticsearch and Kibana transitioned to a new license model.
September 2024: The Linux Foundation launched the OpenSearch Software Foundation.
May 2026: The 2026 Open Data Infrastructure Report survey was conducted among 294 respondents.
2026: The Linux Foundation Research and OpenSearch Software Foundation published the report findings.
The Tech Race
The rise of OpenSearch marks a departure from the dominance of proprietary search engines that previously constrained enterprise data strategies. This trend follows the formation of the OpenSearch Software Foundation, which now acts as the primary vehicle for competing against unified cloud-provider lock-in.
Developers and IT managers can expect increased support for generative AI workloads within the OpenSearch ecosystem as major hardware players like Intel join its governing foundation. The platform's emphasis on multi-cloud support allows organizations to reduce their dependency on a single vendor's proprietary infrastructure pricing.
The takeaway
The move toward vendor-neutral search infrastructure is accelerating as enterprises seek to optimize their $2.4 million average annual spend on AI-ready systems. Watch for future membership announcements from the OpenSearch Software Foundation, which will signal the industry's continued appetite for non-proprietary data management tools.
Further reading
For broader trends in enterprise-grade machine learning and infrastructure, visit the Artificial Intelligence section.
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