Collabora Online vs Etherpad

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureCollabora OnlineEtherpad
CategoryDocument ManagementChat & Communication
LicenseMPL-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageShellTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 3,316★ 18,481
First released20152011
ReplacesGoogle Docs, Microsoft 365Google Docs

Why pick each one

Choose Collabora Online if…

  • Strong ODF support
  • Mature LibreOffice engine
Collabora Online details

Choose Etherpad if…

  • Very mature and stable
  • Highly extensible
Etherpad details

Frequently asked questions

Is Collabora Online or Etherpad better?

Neither is universally better. Etherpad has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Collabora Online and Etherpad free and open-source?

Yes. Collabora Online is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Etherpad under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Collabora Online and Etherpad with Docker?

Collabora Online: yes. Etherpad: yes.

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