SHSelfHostIndex

Citadel vs OnlyOffice Community Server

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?
CI Citadel All-in-one groupware, mail and collaboration server VS ON OnlyOffice Community Server Collaboration server pairing with the ONLYOFFICE editors
FeatureCitadelOnlyOffice Community Server
CategoryGroupwareOffice Suites
LicenseGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguageCC#
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB4,096 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 100★ 3,153
First released19872014
ReplacesMicrosoft Exchange, Microsoft 365Microsoft 365

Why pick each one

Choose Citadel if…

  • Single-package setup
  • Low resource needs
Citadel details

Choose OnlyOffice Community Server if…

  • Integrated office portal
  • Open source core
OnlyOffice Community Server details

Frequently asked questions

Is Citadel or OnlyOffice Community Server better?

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

Are Citadel and OnlyOffice Community Server free and open-source?

Yes. Citadel is licensed under GPL-3.0 and OnlyOffice Community Server under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Citadel and OnlyOffice Community Server with Docker?

Citadel: check the project docs for container support. OnlyOffice Community Server: yes.

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