Etherpad

Judgement

What it is

Complete system

What it does

A web-based real-time collaborative text editor that colours each author's text, keeps every revision and lets you replay a document's history with a timeslider.

Adopt it when

You want a self-hosted shared notepad for meetings, drafting or public-sector work where authorship and history matter more than rich formatting.

Watch out

Formatting and layout are basic compared with Google Docs, and the project says it is run by a small volunteer team looking for maintainers.

Ready for

Production-ready

Runs as

Self-hosted server

Built with

TypeScript, Node.js and PostgreSQL

How established

Established: started 15 years ago, latest release v3.3.13.

What the license allows

You can build it into a product you sell, as long as you keep its copyright notice.

Judged on 2026-11-03 from the project's README and GitHub data. The license and age lines are worked out directly.

Compare Etherpad

Built from

Follow it down: Etherpad → TypeScript → Go → runs on a microchip

How compilers were built, back to punched paper tape

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