head to head · open source
Jitsi vs etherpad
Jitsi has 29,931 GitHub stars, 8,026 forks, 141 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etherpad has 18,552 stars, 3,050 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Jitsi leads on adoption by 61% (29,931 vs 18,552 stars). Jitsi is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; etherpad is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Jitsi has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, etherpad 16%. Jitsi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| Jitsi | etherpad | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 19K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.0K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Jitsi if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick etherpad if
- You want the etherpad feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and etherpad fits your workflow better
About Jitsi
Jitsi Meet is an open source video conferencing platform built on WebRTC standards, designed for privacy focused, account free video calls. It operates as a standalone web application or embeddable component, supporting both browser based and native mobile usage without requiring user accounts to join meetings. The project lives in the video communication ecosystem, competing directly with proprietary services like Zoom, Google Meet, and Slack’s built in calling.
read the full Jitsi overview →
About etherpad
Etherpad is a real time collaborative document editor, written in TypeScript and released under Apache 2.0, for teams and institutions that need every keystroke attributed to its author, every revision preserved, and all text hosted on infrastructure they control.
read the full etherpad overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jitsi or etherpad more popular?
Jitsi has 29,931 GitHub stars and etherpad has 18,552. Jitsi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jitsi and etherpad free?
Both are open source. Jitsi is licensed under Apache-2.0 and etherpad under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Jitsi and etherpad?
Jitsi is written in TypeScript and etherpad in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Jitsi or etherpad?
Choose Jitsi if you want the larger community (29,931 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose etherpad if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.