LibreOffice Online vs OnlyOffice Community Server
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted office suites options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | LibreOffice Online | OnlyOffice Community Server |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 51 · Fair | 75 · Good |
| Category | Office Suites | Office Suites |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 654 | ★ 3,168 |
| First released | 2015 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Microsoft 365, Google Docs | Microsoft 365 |
What are LibreOffice Online and OnlyOffice Community Server?
LibreOffice Online
LibreOffice Online is the cloud-based document editing engine maintained by The Document Foundation, providing collaborative editing of text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. It is the upstream that powers several integrations.
- Collaborative editing
- Documents, sheets, slides
- Open file formats
- Web-based access
OnlyOffice Community Server
ONLYOFFICE Community Server is the collaboration backend that adds document management, mail, projects, and CRM around the ONLYOFFICE document editors. It can be self-hosted as an integrated office portal.
- Document management
- Built-in mail
- Projects and CRM
- Editor integration
LibreOffice Online vs OnlyOffice Community Server: key differences
LibreOffice Online is written in JavaScript, while OnlyOffice Community Server is built with C#. Licensing differs — MPL-2.0 for LibreOffice Online versus Apache-2.0 for OnlyOffice Community Server. LibreOffice Online is the lighter option, starting around 2,048 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for OnlyOffice Community Server. OnlyOffice Community Server has the considerably larger community, at 3,168 GitHub stars versus 654.
Why pick each one
Choose LibreOffice Online if…
- True open-source office
- Strong format support
Watch out for
- Heavy resource use
- Complex to deploy standalone
Choose OnlyOffice Community Server if…
- Integrated office portal
- Open source core
Watch out for
- Heavy resource needs
- Setup complexity
Frequently asked questions
Is LibreOffice Online or OnlyOffice Community Server better?
OnlyOffice Community Server is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider LibreOffice Online if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are LibreOffice Online and OnlyOffice Community Server free and open-source?
Yes. LibreOffice Online is licensed under MPL-2.0 and OnlyOffice Community Server under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LibreOffice Online and OnlyOffice Community Server with Docker?
LibreOffice Online: yes. OnlyOffice Community Server: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, LibreOffice Online or OnlyOffice Community Server?
LibreOffice Online has the smaller minimum footprint at 2,048 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for OnlyOffice Community Server. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.