Rowy vs Univer
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted office suites options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Rowy
Spreadsheet-like UI for Firestore databases
VS
Univer
Full-stack framework for collaborative office docs
| Feature | Rowy | Univer |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Office Suites | Office Suites |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | source, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,832 | ★ 14,069 |
| First released | 2021 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Airtable | Google Sheets, Microsoft Office |
Why pick each one
Choose Rowy if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6.8k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Choose Univer if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 14.1k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Rowy or Univer better?
Neither is universally better. Univer has the larger community, while Rowy is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Rowy and Univer free and open-source?
Yes. Rowy is licensed under MIT and Univer under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Rowy and Univer with Docker?
Rowy: yes. Univer: yes.