head to head · open source
CryptPad vs Collabora Online
CryptPad has 7,920 GitHub stars, 849 forks, 401 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Collabora Online has 3,351 stars, 1,019 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. CryptPad leads on adoption by 136% (7,920 vs 3,351 stars). CryptPad is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; Collabora Online is written in Shell under a custom or non-standard licence. CryptPad has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Collabora Online 30%. CryptPad was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (javascript), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| CryptPad | Collabora Online | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.9K | ★ 3.4K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | JavaScript | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 849 | ⑂ 1.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick CryptPad if
- You weight community size — 7.9K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Collabora Online if
- You want the Collabora Online feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and Collabora Online fits your workflow better
About CryptPad
CryptPad is an open source collaboration suite built around end to end encryption, written in JavaScript and released under the AGPL 3.0. It lives in the JavaScript and real time collaboration ecosystem, using ChainPad to synchronize changes to documents in real time. The suite covers documents, sheets, presentations, forms, kanban boards, code, rich text, and whiteboards, all reachable from a single CryptDrive, and it is positioned as an open alternative to Google Docs.
read the full CryptPad overview →
About Collabora Online
Collabora Online is an open source document editing suite for secure collaboration, and it sits in the productivity and office suite category. The repository metadata presents it as a suite for documents, office work, and enterprise use, with topics that connect it to LibreOffice, JavaScript, C++, Android, and iOS. Active development and code review happen on a Gerrit instance, while the GitHub repository is kept for issue tracking and release artifacts.
read the full Collabora Online overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is CryptPad or Collabora Online more popular?
CryptPad has 7,920 GitHub stars and Collabora Online has 3,351. CryptPad has the larger community by that measure.
Are CryptPad and Collabora Online free?
Both are open source. CryptPad is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Collabora Online has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between CryptPad and Collabora Online?
CryptPad is written in JavaScript and Collabora Online in Shell. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, CryptPad or Collabora Online?
Choose CryptPad if you want the larger community (7,920 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Collabora Online if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.