Introduction

One large myth about Open Source projects that we would like to dispel is the idea that you can't get high quality support. The general open source way of finding support is to fully read the documentation, read all the FAQ's, and then jump on irc, or post to lists or newsgroups. Most of the time you will actually get a faster and more helpful response than from a normal commercial support center. Your questions will actually be answered by the developers who write the software and users who may have encountered similar problems. But there is a common misperception about open source software, which is that the responses from lists is all can you get, and if people don't bother to answer your question then there is no way to get additional support. That is far from the case, as there are a number of companies willing to provide commercial grades support, but at commercial prices. You can get a support package that is just like that which comes with any high priced software, even be able to call up a person.

A variety of organizations can assist directly with installations, configurations, customizations, and telephone support. We list the ones who have been most involved with GeoServer here, and as more companies are contributing to GeoServer we are slowly building a network in many countries that can offer local, customized support on GeoServer. This model is actually much better than the normal commercial model, since you pay directly for what you get, in an open marketplace. You don't get support as a side effect of buying an expensive software license (though often you have to pay far more for support even if you already bought the license), instead you get to use the software for free, and get access to the lists of developers. Only if that is not sufficient then you can pay for support. Or you can retain a company for prompt support whenever you need it. Note that this situation is the case for most any successful open source project, there are most always companies that will provide most any level of support for you, if you are willing to pay. Just because you can get lots of support for free does not mean that you can't get even more, if you pay a little money.

Core Contributors

The organizations listed here are recognized as being closest to the core development of GeoServer, and as such are usually the best to go to for support. They are close enough to the codebase to know what is possible, and to ensure that any improvement to be made to GeoServer gets done in the right way. This can minimize your risk greatly.

• OpenGeo, the geospatial division of The Open Planning Project (TOPP) (US), a non-profit based in New York, leads the GeoServer effort, and currently can do improvements to the codebase that align with its mission. TOPP started GeoServer in 2001, and OpenGeo continues to lead the day to day functioning of the community. Current efforts include adding standards based geowiki capabilities, making GeoServer more modular and flexible to program against, and supporting the wide variety of community efforts. For more information contact inquiry <at> opengeo.org. OpenGeo encourages a diverse ecosystem of consultants and companies around GeoServer, and can recommend one for the area of the world and client needs. If you are selecting a company to support GeoServer TOPP is happy to recommend an appropriate team, often composed of more than one single organization. For more information see the OpenGeo services page.

• Refractions (Canada) has performed many core improvements to GeoServer, and can provide a wide variety of consulting and support around it. The bulk of their work was to add a validation engine and web gui to GeoServer, for 1.2. Their latest work is uDig, and all the programmers who work on it can quickly get up to speed with GeoServer, as the two projects share a lot of code. Refractions is well equipped to provide complete solutions, not only GeoServer but the whole open source stack around. See their support page for more information.

• Axios (Spain) is one of the larger GeoServer contributors, and is the leading GeoServer provider for Europe. Their initial work was integrating the WMS with GeoServer's WFS for version 1.1, and provided the first SVG output. They are also the ArcSDE experts of the GeoServer/GeoTools codebase. Currently they are working on support for Complex Features within GeoServer, mapping native database tables to well known schemas.
• GeoSolutions (Italy) is a young company with a strong commitment to providing innovative,  robust, cost-effective geospatial solutions employing cutting edge technologies. Our associates are members of both the GeoTools PMC as well as of the GeoServer PSC. Our main area of interests in the projectsis in rasters management as well as advanced rendering. We are leading the development of GeoServer-raster (both WMS and WCS) as well as for GeoTools raster plugins. We havealso extensive experience with  JAI and ImageIO. Please contact Simone Giannecchini at (simone[dot]giannecchini[at]geo-solutions[dot]it) for additional information.

Experienced Providers

The commercial providers in this category have not done major contributions directly to the GeoServer project, but they are trusted as reliable organizations with experience around GeoServer, if not directly on the codebase. They are more recommended for those looking for local support, and can grow to become core contributors.

• The Where Group (Germany), has worked extensively with GeoServer installations, integrating GeoServer through WFS-T with the Open Source Mapbender client. They are the recommended GeoServer provider for Germany, for installations, training and consultation services. See their Consultation Page for more information.
• LISAsoft (Australia) provides commercial support for a full stack of Geospatial Open Source Software, including Geoserver. LISAsoft has extensive deploying and configuring Geoserver, including using Geoserver to build a beautifully styled tile-cache for all of Australia. LISAsoft also started the Duckhawk Performace Testing Framework to test Geoserver services.

Additional Services

Anyone can add themselves here as someone who offers any kind of service related to GeoServer. Once they are recognized as valuable members of the community we will upgrade them to experienced providers or core contributors.