CryptPad vs HedgeDoc vs Etherpad — Best Open Source Collaborative Docs Compared

If your team still email documents back and forth, you’re working in the past. Collaborative editing — where several people edit the same document in real time — is one of the biggest productivity wins open source has to offer, and you don’t need Google Docs to get it. Three of the strongest self-hosted tools in this space are CryptPad, HedgeDoc and Etherpad. They all let people work on the same document together, but they solve surprisingly different problems: one is a full encrypted office suite, one is a markdown-first notes and slides tool, and one is a focused real-time text editor. Let’s compare them so you can pick the right one for your docs.

1. CryptPad — The Encrypted All-in-One Suite

CryptPad describes itself as the “end-to-end encrypted and open-source collaboration suite” — and it genuinely earns both halves of that phrase. Both you and your collaborators get a zero-knowledge web app: the server can only store encrypted blobs, so even the people hosting CryptPad cannot read your documents. It runs as a fully self-hostable platform (or as the flagship hosted instance at cryptpad.fr), and it’s a lot more than a single document editor.

• Zero-knowledge encryption — documents are encrypted so they’re unreadable even to the server operator; there is no way to reset a password, which is the trade-off for real privacy.
• Multiple collaborative apps — Rich Text, Sheets, Kanban, Whiteboard, Code, Slides, Forms, Polls and Markdown Docs, all sharing one Drive and one set of access controls.
• Real-time CRDT editing — concurrent edits from many people merge without conflict, built on collaborative editing technology rather than last-write-wins.
• Teams and sharing — create teams, share drives and folders, and control who can view, edit or only “see” a document.
• Self-hostable — AGPL-3.0, deploy it on your own server with Docker or a manual install, with the software the French team also runs for cryptpad.fr.
• Privacy by design — no tracking, no ads, and full user data is under your control whether you self-host or use a trusted instance. See the CryptPad listing for the full details.

2. HedgeDoc — The Markdown Powerhouse for Notes and Slides

HedgeDoc (formerly CodiMD) takes the opposite approach to CryptPad’s suite: instead of many app types, it does one thing exceptionally well — real-time collaborative editing of Markdown. It’s a web-based, self-hosted editor where sharing a note link is enough for colleagues to jump in, and it folds in graph rendering and slide decks so a single note can grow into a presentation. Simple to deploy, pleasant to use, and entirely under your own governance.

• Real-time Markdown collaboration — multiple people edit one note simultaneously, with the rendered preview updating live.
• Graphs and diagrams built in — render Mermaid, sequence diagrams, flowcharts, charts and more directly inside your Markdown.
• Slide mode — turn any note into a presentation (reveal.js style) with a few Markdown markers, no separate tool needed.
• Guest access via links — share a note link and colleagues can edit right away, with per-note permission controls.
• Self-hostable — AGPL-3.0, quickly run with Docker on your own server or as a managed instance.
• Simple and focused — no app sprawl: if Markdown notes and lightweight slides are your workflow, this is the leanest choice. See the HedgeDoc listing for more.

3. Etherpad — The Lightweight Real-Time Editor

Etherpad calls itself “the editor for documents that matter,” and its pitch is sovereignty: it runs on your server, under your governance, with no telemetry, no upsells and no silent updates. Where CryptPad is an encrypted suite and HedgeDoc is a markdown notebook, Etherpad is a focused, real-time text editor with a plugin ecosystem and a decades-long track record inside schools and institutions. It’s Apache-2.0, exports your data openly, and keeps the full edit history yours.

• Real-time collaborative editing — everyone’s cursors and edits appear live as you type in a shared document.
• Sovereignty by default — runs entirely on your server; Apache-2.0 code, open data format, full data export built in, no telemetry.
• Rich plugin ecosystem — hundreds of plugins add formatting, authentication, templates, integrations and more.
• Complete edit history — every change is recorded, so the document history belongs to you and your institution, never a third party.
• Battle-tested and simple — lightweight enough to run on modest hardware, with a proven record in classrooms and organisations.
• Self-hostable — Apache-2.0, deploy with Docker or npm and keep your documents and history on your own server. See the Etherpad listing for the full picture.

Head-to-Head

Encryption and Privacy

CryptPad is in a league of its own here: it’s zero-knowledge, so the server can’t read your content even if it wanted to. HedgeDoc encrypts transport (TLS) but stores notes in plaintext server-side, like most self-hosted apps — fine when you control the server. Etherpad is likewise plaintext-on-your-own-server, but with no telemetry and total data export. If the content is sensitive enough that even a compromised host must not read it, only CryptPad qualifies.

What Kind of Documents

CryptPad covers the widest ground — rich text, spreadsheets, kanban, whiteboards, code, forms and slides — so it can replace most of a Google Workspace. HedgeDoc is Markdown-first: great for technical notes, runbooks, and live slide decks. Etherpad is a plain-text / rich-text editor focused on real-time co-writing of prose and documents, extended by plugins.

Ease of Set-Up

All three self-host with Docker. HedgeDoc is the quickest to get productive — point it at a note link and go, with minimal configuration. Etherpad is also lightweight to stand up. CryptPad has the most moving parts (it’s a suite with storage backends), so it demands a bit more setup and storage planning in exchange for its broader feature set.

Collaboration Model

All three share the core win: multiple people editing the same document at once. HedgeDoc and Etherpad keep you in a single document mental model, while CryptPad adds teams, drives and per-app access control across an entire workspace — closer to a shared office than a single pad.

Which One Should You Pick?

Choose CryptPad if you need privacy by design and a full collaborative suite — end-to-end encryption, multiple document types, and a workspace with teams, drives and granular access control.

Choose HedgeDoc if you live in Markdown and want fast collaborative notes, live diagrams and slide decks — a lean, self-hosted notebook that a link is enough to share.

Choose Etherpad if you want a battle-tested, simple real-time text editor under your own governance — sovereign, exportable, plugin-rich, and ideal for co-writing prose.

The Bottom Line

These three tools aren’t really fighting over the same job. CryptPad is the encrypted, all-in-one collaboration suite; HedgeDoc is the Markdown-heavy notes-and-slides editor; Etherpad is the dependable real-time text editor. What unites them is that they’re all fully open source and self-hostable, keeping your document history and content on hardware you control — a promise no proprietary documents suite can match. Pick the one that matches how you write, and your team can drop the email-forwards-forever workflow for good.

Get Started

All three are free to self-host, and each has a hosted option if you’d rather not run a server. CryptPad, HedgeDoc and Etherpad are all listed in the directory, alongside dozens of other collaborative and productivity tools — explore the full free and open source collection we’ve curated.

Know a great open source collaborative editing tool we haven’t covered? Submit a tool and help us grow the directory.