DocumentServer vs Microsoft 365
DocumentServer and Microsoft 365 are both office suite software. DocumentServer is open source under AGPL-3.0, with 7.1k GitHub stars. Microsoft 365 is a commercial product from Microsoft.
Which to pick
- Pick DocumentServer when
- You want browser-based Office-compatible editing on your own servers.
- Pick Microsoft 365 when
- A business of any size that relies on Excel and Office files, Windows PCs or Microsoft identity and security tooling.
Side by side
ONLYOFFICE Docs, an online office suite for editing Word, Excel, PowerPoint, forms and PDF files collaboratively in the browser, integrated with Nextcloud and other platforms.
Subscription bundle of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Exchange email, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive, with identity management through Entra ID.
The free edition caps simultaneous connections, so larger teams need a paid edition.
Licence tiers are confusing, admin is complex, and prices rise regularly with bundled AI.
Production-ready (both)
Self-hosted server and cloud service
Cloud service, desktop app and mobile app
JavaScript, C++ and Node.js
Not published
Open source, AGPL-3.0 (network copyleft)
Closed source, sold by Microsoft
Use inside your business is unrestricted. If you change it and let customers use it over the internet, you must publish your changes.
Closed source: you use it under the maker's terms and cannot change or resell the code.
7.1k GitHub stars
10k Wikipedia readers a month on phones
Established: started 12 years ago, latest release v10.0.0.
Not known
Other comparisons
More office suites and document editors
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from makers' descriptions, Wikipedia, READMEs and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.