An alternative to the regular membership in the cooperative is the recently introduced associate membership bronze/silver/gold. The rationale behind this type of membership is that acquiring shares of a cooperative and become regular member may not always be an easy task, especially for large corporations. Advantage of this type of membership is that it may avoid some paperwork overhead related to the acquisition of a company's share. In turn, the annual membership fee is one and a half times higher than for regular members and there are no active or passive voting rights in the Annual General Assembly. In addition to this, associate members bronze/silver/gold enjoy equal rights as their regular member counterparts.

Associate members bronze/silver/gold may use the respective bronze, silver or gold associate member logo in printed material and on their website. In addition to associate members bronze/silver/gold, OSADL has associate members base level for individuals and small companies or start-ups, associate members organization for organizations, regular members and academic members.

Application forms for an associate membership bronze/silver/gold in the Open Source Automation Development Lab are available in English and German language (PDF format).