Collabora Online vs Zoho Writer

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

Zoho Writer

• Individuals who want a free word processor on every device
• Businesses generating contracts, letters and forms from CRM data
• Teams already using Zoho WorkDrive or Zoho Workplace

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.

Zoho Writer

• There is no standalone paid Writer plan; the pricing page sends businesses to a Zoho WorkDrive subscription for the paid edition.
• Document automation is metered: 200 free credits a month per organization (1,000 on the paid edition), then $0.05 a credit, falling to $0.01 at high volume.
• WorkDrive plans start at 3 users; buying 1 or 2 seats means contacting Zoho's sales team.
• Zia's grammar, spelling and style checks cover English, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.

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.

Zoho Writer

Real-time collaboration and review

Documents are shared with set permissions and edited together in real time, with tracked changes to accept or reject, comments with @mentions and document versions.

Zia writing assistant

Zia generates, rewrites, shortens and summarizes text, checks grammar and spelling in English, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, and translates into more than 70 languages.

Document automation

Merge, fillable and sign templates generate personalized documents, PDFs and web forms from business data, with a visual flow builder. Generating documents uses credits.

Word and Google Docs compatibility

Writer imports, edits and saves DOCX and Google Docs files along with RTF, ODT, TXT, HTML and PDF. Imports are limited to 50 MB for DOCX and 10 MB for other formats.

Offline mode and apps

Desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux have a full offline mode, and there are iOS and Android apps. Changes made offline sync when you are back online.

Plagiarism check and publishing

An in-document plagiarism checker reports the degree of overlap with links to matching sources, and documents can be published to WordPress, Medium or Blogger from Writer.

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.

Zoho Writer

• Free$0

  The full word processor on web, desktop and mobile, with unlimited documents and 200 free automation credits a month per organization.

• WorkDrive Starter$2.50

  per user / month, billed annually ($3 monthly); min. 3 users

  Zoho WorkDrive with the Zoho Office Suite, including Writer, 1 TB of team storage for 3 to 10 users and 1,000 free automation credits a month.

• Workplace Standard$3

  per user / month, billed annually ($4 billed monthly)

  Zoho Workplace: Writer, Sheet and Show alongside Mail with 30 GB per user, WorkDrive, Cliq and Meeting.

• WorkDrive Team$4.50

  per user / month, billed annually ($6 monthly); min. 3 users

  3 TB of team storage for 3 to 10 users, a 50 GB upload limit per file and data recovery for up to 120 days.

• Workplace Professional$6

  per user / month, billed annually ($7 billed monthly)

  100 GB of mail storage per user, 1 TB of team file storage for 3 to 10 users and the Connect intranet.

• WorkDrive Business$9

  per user / month, billed annually ($11 monthly); min. 3 users

  5 TB of team storage for 3 to 10 users, custom workflows, data loss prevention policies and an admin audit trail.

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.

Zoho Writer

• Annual discount

  Lower WorkDrive rates with annual billing

  WorkDrive Starter is $2.50 per user a month billed annually against $3 billed monthly. Team is $4.50 against $6 and Business $9 against $11.

• Annual discount

  Lower Workplace rates with annual billing

  Workplace Standard is $3 per user a month billed annually against $4 billed monthly, and Workplace Professional is $6 against $7.