head to head · open source
Rocket.Chat vs DesktopEditors
Rocket.Chat has 46,133 GitHub stars, 13,891 forks, 4,023 open issues and last shipped yesterday. DesktopEditors has 5,401 stars, 541 forks, 465 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Rocket.Chat leads on adoption by 754% (46,133 vs 5,401 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 | ★ 5.4K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | — |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-05-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 14K | ⑂ 541 |
| 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
Rocket.Chat is an open source, self hostable team communications platform written in TypeScript that gives organisations full ownership of their messaging, voice, and federation infrastructure instead of renting it from a closed SaaS vendor.
read the full Rocket.Chat overview →
About DesktopEditors
ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors is a free, open source office suite that combines document, spreadsheet, presentation, PDF, and PDF form editors with a diagram viewer into one offline desktop application for Windows, Linux, and macOS, aimed at anyone who works with Office Open XML files and wants a local, no internet alternative to a proprietary office suite.
read the full DesktopEditors overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Rocket.Chat or DesktopEditors more popular?
Rocket.Chat has 46,133 GitHub stars and DesktopEditors has 5,401. 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 (46,133 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.