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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Web App

Etherpad

An open-source editor for writing documents together in real time.

Visit Etherpad4.4

  • Rating

    4.4 / 5

  • Pricing

    Free

  • Difficulty

    Beginner

  • Works on

    Web

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What is Etherpad?

Etherpad is a free, open-source collaborative text editor where several people can write in the same document at once, with each author's text shown in its own colour. It includes chat, a time slider to replay changes, and plugins, and you can self-host it or use a public instance.

Pros: what Etherpad does well

  • Live co-editing with author colours
  • Time slider shows every change
  • Can be fully self-hosted

Cons: where it falls short

  • Basic formatting compared to office suites
  • Public instances vary in reliability

Who Etherpad is for

Groups taking shared meeting notes or drafting text together without accounts.

Who can skip it

Teams already working inside Google Docs or Microsoft 365.

Etherpad alternatives

Not sold on Etherpad? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Collaboration resources

HedgeDoc

Focus: markdown. Shares collaborative editing and self-hosted with Etherpad. Rated 4.5 (Etherpad: 4.4).

Web AppFreeWeb
4.5Visit

Rallly

Focus: group scheduling, polls and calendly alternative. Shares open source and self-hosted with Etherpad. Freemium (Etherpad: Free). Rated 4.5 (Etherpad: 4.4).

Web AppFree planWeb
4.5Visit

Typst

Focus: typesetting, latex alternative and documents. Shares open source with Etherpad. Freemium (Etherpad: Free). Adds Windows, macOS and Linux. Rated 4.6 (Etherpad: 4.4).

Web AppFree planWeb, Windows
4.6Visit

Crab Fit

Focus: group scheduling, availability and meetings. Shares open source with Etherpad. Rated 4.5 (Etherpad: 4.4).

Web AppFreeWeb
4.5Visit

Witeboard

Focus: whiteboard, sketching and brainstorming. Shares real-time with Etherpad. Same 4.4 rating.

Web AppFreeWeb
4.4Visit

CryptPad

Focus: encrypted, office suite and google docs alternative. Shares open source with Etherpad. Freemium (Etherpad: Free). Rated 4.3 (Etherpad: 4.4).

Web AppFree planWeb
4.3Visit

Free alternatives to Etherpad

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

Docmost

Focus: wiki, documentation and confluence alternative. Shares self-hosted and open source with Etherpad. Rated 4.7 (Etherpad: 4.4).

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.7Visit

Docusaurus

Focus: documentation, static site and markdown. Shares open source with Etherpad. A framework, not a web app. Rated 4.7 (Etherpad: 4.4).

FrameworkFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.7Visit

Slidev

Focus: presentations, markdown slides and developer tool. Shares open source with Etherpad. A framework, not a web app. Adds macOS, Windows and Linux. Rated 4.7 (Etherpad: 4.4).

FrameworkFreeWeb, macOS
4.7Visit

whisper.cpp

Focus: speech to text, transcription and local ai. Shares open source with Etherpad. An AI tool, not a web app. Adds macOS, Windows and Linux. Rated 4.7 (Etherpad: 4.4).

AI ToolFreemacOS, Windows
4.7Visit

BookStack

Focus: wiki, documentation and github. Shares self-hosted and open source with Etherpad. Rated 4.6 (Etherpad: 4.4).

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.6Visit

Gitea

Focus: git hosting, code review and issues. Shares self-hosted and open source with Etherpad. Adds Linux, macOS and Windows. Rated 4.6 (Etherpad: 4.4).

Web AppFreeWeb, Linux
4.6Visit
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