head to head · open source
Plane vs etherpad
Plane has 61,880 GitHub stars, 6,282 forks, 1,103 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etherpad has 18,616 stars, 3,060 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Plane leads on adoption by 232% (61,880 vs 18,616 stars). Plane is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; etherpad is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Plane has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, etherpad 16%. Plane 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
| Plane | etherpad | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 62K | ★ 19K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Plane if
- You weight community size — 62K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 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 Plane
Modern project management for all teams Website • Forum • X • Documentation Meet Plane, an open source project management tool to track issues, run sprints cycles, and manage product roadmaps without the chaos of managing the tool itself. 🧘♀️ Plane is evolving every day. Your suggestions, ideas, and reported bugs help us immensely. Do not hesitate to join in the conversation on Forum or raise a GitHub issue. We read everything and respond to most. 🚀 Installation Getting started with Plane is simple. Choose the setup that works best for you: Plane Cloud Sign up for a free account on Plane Cloud—it's the…
read the full Plane overview →
About etherpad
Etherpad — the editor for documents that matter Real time collaborative editing where authorship is the default, your server is the only server, and you decide what AI (if any) ever touches your text. About Etherpad is a real time collaborative editor for documents that matter. Every keystroke is attributed to its author. Every revision is preserved. The timeslider lets you scrub through a document's entire history, character by character. Author colours make collaboration visible at a glance — not buried in a menu. Etherpad runs on your server, under your governance. No telemetry. No upsells. AI is a plugin you…
read the full etherpad overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Plane or etherpad more popular?
Plane has 61,880 GitHub stars and etherpad has 18,616. Plane has the larger community by that measure.
Are Plane and etherpad free?
Both are open source. Plane is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and etherpad under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Plane and etherpad?
Plane 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, Plane or etherpad?
Choose Plane if you want the larger community (61,880 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose etherpad if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.