# Alternatives to Collabora Online

LibreOffice in the browser for Nextcloud.

Collabora Online ranks #2 of 9 in Office suites, with an Alt Score of 86. It is licensed under MPL-2.0, open source with paid hosting from €3/user/month (Business plan) and available on Web, Android and iOS. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/collabora-online/
Category: Office suites

## Where Collabora Online stands out

- **Self-hostable** — 4 of 9 apps with a verified answer have this

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: IT teams, hosting providers, and organizations (enterprises, educational institutions, public sector) that need self-hosted, data-sovereign document editing rather than relying on cloud office suites like Google Docs or Microsoft 365.
- **What you get**: A browser-based office suite, built on LibreOffice technology, for editing text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings with real-time multi-user collaboration. It supports Microsoft Office and ODF formats, scales via Kubernetes (COOL Controller), and exposes APIs/SDKs for embedding into other platforms with custom theming.
- **How it works**: You self-host Collabora Online (or use a hosting partner) and integrate it into a file-sync platform such as Nextcloud or ownCloud via connector apps or its API. Users then open, edit, and co-author documents directly in the browser, or through Collabora Office desktop/mobile apps, with changes synced back to the host platform.

## Profile

- **License**: MPL-2.0 (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Starts at**: €3/user/month (Business plan) (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Platforms**: Web, Android, iOS
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-11)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [OnlyOffice](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/onlyoffice.md) | 100 | AGPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web |
| 2 | [Microsoft 365](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/microsoft-365.md) | 86 | ? | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
| 3 | [Apple iWork](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/apple-iwork.md) | 82 | Proprietary | macOS, iOS, Web |
| 4 | [CryptPad](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/cryptpad.md) | 82 | AGPL-3.0 | Web |
| 5 | [Google Workspace](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/google-workspace.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 6 | [LibreOffice](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/libreoffice.md) | 82 | MPL-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 7 | [WPS Office](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/wps-office.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 8 | [Zoho Workplace](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/zoho-workplace.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Office suites checklist | Collabora Online | OnlyOffice | Microsoft 365 | Apple iWork | CryptPad | Google Workspace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | OSS + paid hosting | OSS + paid hosting | Subscription | Freemium | OSS + paid hosting | Subscription |
| Starts at | €3/user/month (Business plan) | $1500 | $9.99/month (Microsoft 365 Personal) | $12.99/month | €5/month | $8.40/user/month (Business Starter, Flexible Plan; $7/user/month billed annually) |
| License | MPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 | ? | Proprietary | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary |
| Platforms | Web, Android, iOS | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Web | macOS, iOS, Web | Web | Web, iOS, Android |
| Word processor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Spreadsheets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Presentations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time collaboration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop apps (offline) | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Partial |
| MS Office format fidelity | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| E2E encrypted option | No | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes | Partial |
| Free tier limits | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDF export & editing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Collabora Online. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/faqs/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Collabora sells branded, supported binary versions that are easy to install, paired with a Service Level Agreement and a product management relationship.”
- **Starts at**: €3/user/month (Business plan) — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/pricing/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “€ 3 Per User Per Month”
- **License**: MPL-2.0 — <https://github.com/CollaboraOnline/online/blob/master/COPYING> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.”
- **Platforms**: Web, Android, iOS — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/collabora-office-android-ios/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Collabora Office for Mobile is the mobile office suite of Collabora Office, with apps for Android and iOS to edit word documents, spreadsheets and presentations from your device.”
- **Status**: active — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/blog/code-26-04-release/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “CODE 26.04 is built upon the code commits up to LibreOffice 25.8 and LibreOffice 26.2.”
- **Word processor**: Yes — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/collabora-online/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Powerful word processing”
- **Spreadsheets**: Yes — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/collabora-online/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Powerful spreadsheets”
- **Presentations**: Yes — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/collabora-online/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Collaborative slide creation”
- **Real-time collaboration**: Yes — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/collabora-online/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Real-time collaboration”
- **Desktop apps (offline)**: Partial — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/blog/collabora-online-now-available-on-desktop/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “this is not yet enterprise-supported software. It's new, it's moving fast, and it's a preview of where we're headed. Enterprise support is on the way.”
- **MS Office format fidelity**: Yes — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/blog/interop-explained/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “the vast majority of users will not discover issues opening and editing Microsoft file types in their day to day work with Collabora Office.”
- **Self-hostable**: Yes — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/faqs/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “All of the code in Collabora Online is Open Source, we contribute that to, and work very closely with the LibreOffice project.”
- **E2E encrypted option**: No — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/blog/collabora-allotropia-merge/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “We expect allotropia's expertise around Web Assembly combined with Collabora Online to, in time, enable customer use-cases such as office-as-component embedding scenarios in vertical applications as w”
- **Free tier limits**: Yes — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/code/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “It is perfect for testing, home use or small teams, but not recommended for production environments.”
- **PDF export & editing**: Yes — <https://www.collaboraonline.com/blog/professional-pdf-export-features-in-collabora-online/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Collabora Online offers you the range of professional settings and selection options that you are used to from a professional office application package on the desktop.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/