head to head · open source
LibreOffice vs Collabora Online
LibreOffice has 4,373 GitHub stars, 945 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Collabora Online has 3,351 stars, 1,019 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LibreOffice leads on adoption by 30% (4,373 vs 3,351 stars). LibreOffice is written in C++ under GPL-3.0; Collabora Online is written in Shell under a custom or non-standard licence. LibreOffice has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, Collabora Online 30%. LibreOffice was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (libreoffice), 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
| LibreOffice | Collabora Online | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.4K | ★ 3.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | C++ | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 945 | ⑂ 1.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LibreOffice if
- You weight community size — 4.4K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- 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 LibreOffice
LibreOffice is an integrated office suite written in C++ and distributed under GPL 3.0. It lives in the open source productivity and office suite ecosystem, and it positions itself as an open alternative to Microsoft 365. The Document Foundation backs the project as a community of enterprises, developers, and volunteers.
read the full LibreOffice 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 LibreOffice or Collabora Online more popular?
LibreOffice has 4,373 GitHub stars and Collabora Online has 3,351. LibreOffice has the larger community by that measure.
Are LibreOffice and Collabora Online free?
Both are open source. LibreOffice is licensed under GPL-3.0, and Collabora Online has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between LibreOffice and Collabora Online?
LibreOffice is written in C++ 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, LibreOffice or Collabora Online?
Choose LibreOffice if you want the larger community (4,373 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Collabora Online if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.