Collabora Online vs CryptPad
We give Collabora Online a 3.0 GPA and CryptPad a 3.4, out of 4.0. Collabora Online grades higher on platforms. CryptPad grades higher on the free plan, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Collabora Online
Self-hosted, open-source office suite based on LibreOffice
CryptPad
End-to-end encrypted, open-source collaborative office suite
How we grade them
| 3.0GPACollabora OnlineVery good | 3.4GPACryptPadVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A$3.40 a user a month on a yearly subscription, for up to 99 users, with long-term support and a service level agreement. Paid plans in this category typically start around $13. Outside users without an account aren't charged for. | APersonal is €5 a month or €55 a year on cryptpad.fr, and Team is €15 a month for 6 drives and 75 GB. That's well under what this category usually charges. Prices are in euros. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe free CODE edition is self-hosted and updated about once a month. But it has no SLA or long-term support, and Collabora itself suggests it for testing, home use and small teams, not for production. | AA free cryptpad.fr account gets 1 GB of storage, and hosting your own instance is free too. Uploads stop at 25 MB. Guests can use every app with no account, but their documents are deleted after 90 days of inactivity. |
| Features | BWriter, Calc, Impress and Draw, editing together, and it opens and saves Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. But it only edits documents. Storing the files and deciding who gets in is another product's job. | ANine apps, from rich text, sheets and slides to kanban, forms, whiteboards and diagrams, all syncing in real time with history and a chat. Registered users get a drive with shared folders, templates and fine-grained access controls. |
| Ease of use | DYou host it yourself, on Linux, a virtual machine or Docker, or go through a hosting partner. Then it has to be connected to a platform like Nextcloud or ownCloud before anyone can open a file. | BNothing to install and no account needed: guests can open and edit a shared document without giving any personal information. There's no app rating on record to go on, though. |
| Platforms and integrations | ABrowser, Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android, with ready integrations for Nextcloud, ownCloud, Moodle, SharePoint and more. One catch: the desktop version and mobile support arrive with the Enterprise plan. | CIt runs in the browser and that's it. CryptPad's site lists no desktop or mobile apps, and there are no integrations on record. |
| Best for | an office suite on your own servers | documents your host can't read |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Collabora Online and CryptPad. How we grade
Where they differ
- Collabora Online starts at $3.40 per user / month on a yearly subscription (up to 99 users). CryptPad starts at €5 per month, or €55 per year, for the Personal plan on cryptpad.fr.
- Only Collabora Online lists Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android apps.
- CryptPad is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Collabora Online also covers presentations.
- CryptPad also covers kanban boards.
At a glance
| Collabora Online | CryptPad | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $3.40 per user / month on a yearly subscription (up to 99 users) | €5 per month, or €55 per year, for the Personal plan on cryptpad.fr |
| Free plan | Collabora Online Development Edition (CODE): free, self-hosted rolling release with no SLA or long-term support. The vendor suggests it for testing, home use or small teams, not production. | Free registered account on cryptpad.fr with 1 GB of storage and 25 MB uploads. Guests can use every app without an account, but their documents are deleted after 90 days of inactivity. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Collabora Productivity Ltd | XWiki SAS |
| Price read from | collaboraonline.com | cryptpad.org |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Collabora Online
- Organizations that must keep documents on their own servers
- Nextcloud, ownCloud or OpenCloud users adding document editing
- Software vendors embedding an office editor in their own product
- Home users and small teams running the free CODE edition
CryptPad
- Groups that do not want their host to be able to read their documents
- Working with people who should not need to create an account
- Schools and nonprofits: dedicated instances are half price for them
- Organizations able to run their own instance
Worth knowing
Collabora Online
- Collabora does not host the product: you run the server yourself or go through one of its hosting partners.
- It only edits documents, so it has to be paired with another product that handles file storage and user access.
- The free CODE edition has no SLA or long-term support, and the vendor does not recommend it for business or production use.
- Business stops at 99 users, at $3.40 per user a month on a yearly subscription; 100 or more users need an Enterprise quote.
CryptPad
- Prices are in euros. Paid plans on cryptpad.fr run from €5 to €100 a month and mainly add storage and priority support.
- A free cryptpad.fr account has 1 GB of storage and a 25 MB upload limit, and guest documents are deleted after 90 days of inactivity.
- CryptPad runs in the browser; the project's site lists no desktop or mobile apps.
- A dedicated instance starts at €3,000 a year for 50 users and 100 GB of storage.
Key features
Collabora Online
- Writer, Calc, Impress and Draw
- Four browser-based editors cover text documents, spreadsheets, presentations and drawings, with pivot tables and charts in Calc and Visio files opening in Draw.
- Collaborative editing
- Several people can edit one document together. The FAQ sets no formal limit and calls 20 people in a session normal, and external users without an account are not charged for.
- Microsoft and OpenDocument formats
- Opens and saves DOCX, XLSX and PPTX, the older DOC, XLS and PPT formats and the OpenDocument equivalents, and offers PDF download.
- Deployment on your own servers
- The server runs on a Linux system, a virtual machine or a Docker container, so documents stay on infrastructure you control. Large Kubernetes deployments scale through the COOL Controller.
- Integration through WOPI
- Ready integrations cover Nextcloud, ownCloud, OpenCloud, Moodle, Alfresco, SharePoint and Mattermost, and other web applications connect by implementing the WOPI protocol.
- Admin console
- An admin console shows the users connected, the documents open and their resource usage, and can pass monitoring data to external services.
CryptPad
- Encryption in the browser
- All data is encrypted in the browser before it leaves the device, so the service and its administrators cannot see document contents or user data.
- A suite of document apps
- Rich Text, Document, Sheet, Presentation, Kanban, Code/Markdown, Form, Whiteboard and Diagram apps share import and export, history, a user list and a chat.
- Collaboration without an account
- Changes are synchronized in real time, and guests can open and edit shared documents in every app without giving any personal information.
- CryptDrive and teams
- Registered users get a CryptDrive with folders, shared folders, templates and tags, file uploads, contacts and fine-grained access controls. Team drives and calendars support group work.
- Self-hosting and public instances
- CryptPad is free software that anyone can host. The project lists third-party public instances that passed its checks for an up-to-date version and recommended security settings.
- Dedicated instances from XWiki
- XWiki offers a managed cloud instance or on-premise support with your own domain, logo and colors, storage quota controls and single sign-on integration.
Plans
Collabora Online
Collabora Online Development EditionFree
Self-hosted rolling release, updated about once a month, for testing, home use and small teams. No SLA or long-term support.
Collabora Online for Business$3.40
per user / month, on a yearly subscription
Up to 99 users, self-hosted, with long-term support, a service level agreement, signed security updates and a customer portal.
Collabora Online for EnterpriseCustom
100 or more users with volume discounts, adding roadmap input, integration support, customization, and the desktop version and mobile support.
CryptPad
Free€0
A registered account on cryptpad.fr with 1 GB of storage, or an account on another public instance. Hosting your own instance is also free.
Personal€5
per month, or €55 per year
5 GB storage quota and 1 drive on cryptpad.fr, with a 150 MB file upload limit and priority support.
Duo€10
per month, or €110 per year
25 GB storage quota and 2 drives on cryptpad.fr, with priority support.
Team€15
per month, or €165 per year
75 GB storage quota and 6 drives on cryptpad.fr, with priority support.
Org 25€50
per month, or €500 per year
Organization plan with a 100 GB quota and 25 drives. Org 100 costs €100 a month or €1,000 a year for 150 GB and 100 drives.
Your Own InstanceFrom €3,000
per year (Mini: 50 users, 100 GB)
A dedicated instance from XWiki, managed in the cloud or supported on-premise, up to €25,000 a year for 1,000 users and 1 TB.
Ways to pay less
Collabora Online
- Education
Special pricing for educational institutions
The subscriptions page asks educational institutions to get in touch for special pricing. No rate is published.
- Nonprofit
Special pricing for NGOs
The subscriptions page asks NGOs that want to deploy Collabora to get in touch for special pricing. No rate is published.
- Other savings
Multi-year contract discounts
Subscriptions are priced yearly, and the vendor says discounts for three-year contracts are available on request.
CryptPad
- Education
50% off a dedicated instance for education
Education customers get 50% off enterprise pricing for their own instance: from €1,500 a year for 50 users and 100 GB instead of €3,000.
- Nonprofit
50% off a dedicated instance for nonprofits
Nonprofits get 50% off enterprise pricing for their own instance: from €1,500 a year for 50 users and 100 GB instead of €3,000.
- Annual discount
Lower price with yearly billing on cryptpad.fr
Paying yearly costs €55 instead of €60 for Personal and €500 instead of €600 for Org 25, a saving of about 8% and 17%.
