head to head · open source
Rocket.Chat vs etherpad
Rocket.Chat has 46,361 GitHub stars, 14,076 forks, 4,023 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etherpad has 18,616 stars, 3,060 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Rocket.Chat leads on adoption by 149% (46,361 vs 18,616 stars). Rocket.Chat is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; etherpad is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Rocket.Chat has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, etherpad 16%. Rocket.Chat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (collaboration), 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
| Rocket.Chat | etherpad | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 19K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 14K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Rocket.Chat if
- You weight community size — 46K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other 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 Rocket.Chat
The ultimate secure open source solution for team communications Rocket.Chat is an open source, secure, fully customizable communications platform developed in TypeScript for organizations with high standards of data protection. We are the ultimate solution for team communications, enabling real time conversations between colleagues, with other companies, and with your customers or citizens, regardless of how they connect with you. The result is an increase in productivity and user satisfaction rates. Every day, tens of millions of users in over 150 countries and in organizations such as Deutsche Bahn, The US…
read the full Rocket.Chat 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 Rocket.Chat or etherpad more popular?
Rocket.Chat has 46,361 GitHub stars and etherpad has 18,616. Rocket.Chat has the larger community by that measure.
Are Rocket.Chat and etherpad free?
Both are open source. Rocket.Chat has no licence declared in this registry, and etherpad is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Rocket.Chat and etherpad?
Rocket.Chat 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, Rocket.Chat or etherpad?
Choose Rocket.Chat if you want the larger community (46,361 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose etherpad if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.