head to head · open source
Rocket.Chat vs DesktopEditors
Rocket.Chat has 46,361 GitHub stars, 14,076 forks, 4,023 open issues and last shipped yesterday. DesktopEditors has 5,689 stars, 573 forks, 465 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. Rocket.Chat leads on adoption by 715% (46,361 vs 5,689 stars). Rocket.Chat is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; DesktopEditors is written in various languages under AGPL-3.0. Rocket.Chat has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, DesktopEditors 10%. 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 | DesktopEditors | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 5.7K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | — |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 14K | ⑂ 573 |
| 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 DesktopEditors if
- You want the DesktopEditors feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- You evaluated both and DesktopEditors 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 DesktopEditors
Welcome to the ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors repo! ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors is a free office suite that combines text, spreadsheet, presentation, and PDF editors & Diagram Viewer. The application allows creating, viewing and editing documents stored on your Windows/Linux PC or Mac without an Internet connection. It is fully compatible with Office Open XML formats: .docx, .xlsx, .pptx. Features you'll love ✨ Take advantage of the powerful editors included in ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors: ONLYOFFICE Document Editor ONLYOFFICE Spreadsheet Editor ONLYOFFICE Presentation Editor ONLYOFFICE Form Creator ONLYOFFICE PDF…
read the full DesktopEditors overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Rocket.Chat or DesktopEditors more popular?
Rocket.Chat has 46,361 GitHub stars and DesktopEditors has 5,689. Rocket.Chat has the larger community by that measure.
Are Rocket.Chat and DesktopEditors free?
Both are open source. Rocket.Chat has no licence declared in this registry, and DesktopEditors is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Rocket.Chat and DesktopEditors?
Rocket.Chat is written in TypeScript and DesktopEditors in various languages. 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 DesktopEditors?
Choose Rocket.Chat if you want the larger community (46,361 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose DesktopEditors if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.