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Results indicated that uPortal was the best performer followed by eXo platform, Liferay and Jetspeed. The present work represents a first step in the development of an exhaustive evaluation tool for portals. While the focus of this paper is entirely on open source software, the checklist can also be readily applied to commercial products. KEYWORDS: checklists; evaluation; open source portals INTRODUCTIONCommonly defined as single-point-access software systems which are intended to provide easy and timely access to information and to support communities of users who share common goals (Mack et al., 2001), portals are fast becoming an indispensable platform for any modern-day organization that seeks to leverage the ubiquity of the Web. Unfortunately, there have only been a few evaluative studies of portal software and even fewer of open source portal software. This study aims to add to the available literature in this important area by proposing and testing a checklist for portal software evaluation.The study builds on the experience of one particular portal design project, namely, the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) portal. Headquartered in Singapore, the ASEF was launched in 1997 with the aim of building better understanding between the peoples of Asia and Europe through intellectual and cultural activities, including exchanges and public events. In December of 2003, at the foundation's Conference on Culture and Civilizations in Beijing, it was suggested that a portal for cultural information would be a useful project for the foundation to undertake. Three research reports were subsequently prepared. One of these reports deal with the cultural resources of Asia (ASEF, 2005) and another with the cultural resources of Europe (Fisher and Varbanova, 2005). The third report concerned itself with the technological aspects of the portal (Goh, 2005). This third report recommended the use of open source portal software to fulfil the aims of ASEF.Open source software allows for free distribution and redistribution of software and source code, and is developed by a community of volunteers, This paper first presents an overview of open source software and the available literature of the evaluation of portals. Thereafter, it describes the method used in the study and discusses the findings. In conclusion, it outlines the limitations of the study and suggests further avenues for future research. OPEN SOURCE SOFTWAREOpen source portals are quickly gaining support and recognition as an alternative to commercial portal software. The main reason is that commercial portal software has a high total cost of ownership and provides little opportunity to explore and truly test the software prior to acquisition. Commercial software often comes with a hefty purchase and support price, and there is always the risk that vendors may discontinue the product or go out of business.In addition, open source allows for greater freedom in software usage and development because any programmer with the requisite skills can read, redistribute and mod...