Etherpad vs Kaneo

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?
FeatureEtherpadKaneo
CategoryChat & CommunicationProject Management & Tasks
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, kubernetes
GitHub stars★ 18,481★ 7,637
First released20112026
ReplacesGoogle Docs

Why pick each one

Choose Etherpad if…

  • Very mature and stable
  • Highly extensible
Etherpad details

Choose Kaneo if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 7.6k GitHub stars
Kaneo details

Frequently asked questions

Is Etherpad or Kaneo 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 Etherpad and Kaneo free and open-source?

Yes. Etherpad is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Kaneo under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Etherpad and Kaneo with Docker?

Etherpad: yes. Kaneo: yes.

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