head to head · open source
etherpad vs textbus
etherpad has 18,554 GitHub stars, 3,049 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped yesterday. textbus has 1,385 stars, 145 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. etherpad leads on adoption by 1,240% (18,554 vs 1,385 stars). etherpad is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; textbus is written in TypeScript under MIT. etherpad has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, textbus 10%. etherpad was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (collaboration, collaborative-editing, collaborative-framework, rich-text-editor), 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
| etherpad | textbus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-06-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 145 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick etherpad if
- You weight community size — 19K 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 textbus if
- You want the textbus feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and textbus fits your workflow better
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 →
About textbus
Textbus is an MIT licensed, TypeScript rich text framework for front end developers who need to build component based, data driven and collaborative editors — the DingTalk Docs, Shimo Docs or Feishu Docs kind of experience — rendered with Viewfly, Vue or React.
read the full textbus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is etherpad or textbus more popular?
etherpad has 18,554 GitHub stars and textbus has 1,385. etherpad has the larger community by that measure.
Are etherpad and textbus free?
Both are open source. etherpad is licensed under Apache-2.0 and textbus under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between etherpad and textbus?
etherpad is written in TypeScript and textbus 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, etherpad or textbus?
Choose etherpad if you want the larger community (18,554 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose textbus if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.