Hacktoberfest 2025 Comes to a Close

October rolled around again, and with it came Hacktoberfest for its 12th year where contributors and open-source communities across the globe came together to build, contribute, and make tech more accessible for everyone. This year saw—as it does every year—developers, maintainers, and first-time contributors working side by side, creating solutions that matter to open source. A huge thank you to everyone who participated and made this Hacktoberfest special. We saw a lot of new faces join the celebration this year, and it’s exciting to see the community grow!

What really stood out this year? The genuine enthusiasm. People were here to contribute, collaborate, and make a tangible impact on open source projects. That’s what Hacktoberfest is all about: getting more people involved in open source and working together to improve the software that powers our world. It’s fulfilling to see how Hacktoberfest continues to inspire developers and successfully achieves what we set out to do.

Here’s what Mike Swift, Co-founder and CEO of MLH has to say about Hacktoberfest this year:

“What I enjoyed most about this year’s Hacktoberfest was seeing next-gen developers step into open source with genuine curiosity and realize they could make meaningful contributions. They approached issues, learned from maintainers, and connected those experiences to the AI tools shaping their work. Being part of moments like that is incredibly rewarding and exactly why the MLH community exists.”

A change for Hacktoberfest

This year we increased the number of PRs from 4 to 6. As the program has matured and participants have access to better onboarding resources, we increased the requirement to encourage deeper project engagement and more substantial contributions. The additional PRs allow participants to move beyond initial contributions and tackle more complex issues, leading to higher-quality work and more meaningful impact on the projects they contribute to. This change was embraced by all contributors and we saw 56,768 people from 176 different countries register for Hacktoberfest. Participants also completed a total of 87,929 contributions during the month of October and 23,592 repositories opted-in to participate. Taking the long view, Hacktoberfest has contributed 2.4+ million accepted pull/merge requests to open source projects in its twelve years.

Highlights of Hacktoberfest 2025

Hacktoberfest Hackathons

This October, we brought Hacktoberfest hackathons to seven cities: Denver, San Francisco, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, New York City, and Karachi. These hackathons were packed with sessions on AI and open source, and the energy was incredible. Developers got hands-on, building cool solutions with their favorite AI tools and connecting with the community in person.

Beyond the in-person hackathons, we kicked off and wrapped up Hacktoberfest with online events that brought together nearly 1,000 participants from around the world. These sessions were designed with beginners in mind, whether you were making your first pull request or exploring open source for the first time, we had you covered. From getting started guides to live demos, the goal was simple: make open source accessible and less intimidating for everyone.

Digital badges from Holopin

Just like previous years, we awarded digital badges to all contributors. But this year? We added a little surprise. Everyone who completed a PR received their badge, but we also introduced the Super Contributor badge for select participants who completed 6 PRs. The response was overwhelming, seeing everyone share their badges and celebrate their achievements was a true joy.**

We also celebrated our Hacktoberfest veterans this year. Long-time participants who’ve collected 1, 5, or 10 badges over the years received special recognition badges. It’s our way of saying thank you to those who keep coming back and contributing to open source, year after year.

Image credit - Holopin Hacktoberfest announcement blog

A vibrant online community

This year, we built a new home for the Hacktoberfest community. Over 21,000 of you joined us on the DigitalOcean Discord, creating a space where developers connect, share their love for open source, and discover new passions. The conversations, the collaboration, the energy, it’s been amazing to watch this community grow. If you haven’t joined yet, come be part of the DigitalOcean community on Discord.

Help make Hacktoberfest better—tell us what you think.

Every year we look for new ways to make Hacktoberfest valuable to the open source community. After a year of changes, we’d love to get your feedback and improve Hacktoberfest for the next years!

Take the survey!

Gratitude for our sponsors and community partners

Hacktoberfest wouldn’t be possible without our incredible sponsors and community partners. Their support, whether through sponsorship or engagement, helps us create opportunities for developers to learn, grow, and connect. If you missed getting to know them during October, now’s a great time to check them out. A huge thank you to everyone who made this year’s Hacktoberfest happen!

Sponsors: MLH, Auth0 and AMD

Community Partners: Holopin, GitHub, GitHub Education, GitLab, DEV, Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Open Source Initiative

Congratulations to all who completed the challenge! Keep coding and contributing.