Etherpad
Etherpad is a self-hosted, Apache 2.0 real-time collaborative text editor maintained by The Etherpad Foundation, used by governments, universities, newsrooms, civic-tech projects, and tens of thousands of self-hosted IT teams for verifiable authorship and full revision history.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2009
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Etherpad does
Etherpad is an open-source, self-hosted real-time collaborative text editor maintained by The Etherpad Foundation, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco. Operational since 2009, the editor provides live multi-author document editing in which every keystroke is attributed to its author and the full revision history is preserved as a navigable "timeslider." Its primary users are institutions that require verifiable document provenance and data sovereignty — EU public-sector agencies, universities, newsrooms, civic-tech projects, and self-hosted IT deployments spanning tens of thousands of instances globally (an active scanner reports ~10,969 public instances). Mentioned customers include the Wikimedia Foundation for collaborative drafting across editor communities, EU public-sector bodies constrained by GDPR and sovereignty requirements, universities and schools operating in jurisdictions where commercial SaaS is restricted, civic-tech and democratic-deliberation projects, and newsrooms where authorship integrity is legally significant.
Etherpad firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Etherpad
- Legal name
- The Etherpad Foundation
- Website
- https://etherpad.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2009
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Etherpad is a self-hosted, Apache 2.0 real-time collaborative text editor maintained by The Etherpad Foundation, used by governments, universities, newsrooms, civic-tech projects, and tens of thousands of self-hosted IT teams for verifiable authorship and full revision history.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Etherpad industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Open Source Collaborative Editing Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Digital Whiteboards, Annotation & Collaborative Canvas Tools (EDAFAGAD)
Keywords
Where Etherpad is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Etherpad business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Open Source (No Direct Revenue): Etherpad is free and open source software licensed under Apache 2.0. It is maintained by the Etherpad Foundation and a volunteer community. There is no commercial entity, no pricing, and no direct revenue generation from the software itself.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels5 records
Etherpad product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Etherpad is a free, open-source (Apache 2.0) real-time collaborative text editor that runs on the user's own server. Every keystroke is attributed to its author with visible author colors, and the full revision history is preserved and navigable via a timeslider. The product is extended by an ecosystem of 290+ plugins and a family of official apps, clients, and tools.
Product overview
Etherpad is a self-hosted, open-source (Apache 2.0) real-time collaborative text editor built on Node.js. The product operates as a single unified core editor augmented by an official ecosystem of apps, clients, and tools. The core Etherpad editor supports attribution-based authorship, full revision history with a timeslider, and a plugin system with 290+ community plugins. The official product family includes: the core Etherpad editor, a Desktop & Mobile App (native apps on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS), a Command-line Client and pad Terminal Editor for programmatic/scripted use, the Plugins directory (npm-hosted extensions), the Printing Press tool for AI agent integration, and infrastructure tools including the Etherpad Scanner (security scanner), Scale Calculator (deployment sizing), ueberDB (database abstraction supporting MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, SQLite), Socket.IO Proxy (real-time traffic routing), and a Home Assistant Add-on for smart home deployment.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- ueberDB: The database abstraction layer that powers Etherpad — one API over MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, SQLite and more.
- Etherpad Desktop
- Etherpad CLI
- pad — Terminal Editor
- Printing Press
- Etherpad Scanner
- Socket.IO Proxy
- Home Assistant Add-on
Products and services
- Etherpad Core Editor Self-hosted real-time collaborative text editor where every keystroke is attributed to its author with author colors, full revision history is preserved and browsable via timeslider, and the editor runs on the user's own server under their governance. Supports 105 languages and 290+ plugins.
- Etherpad Desktop and Mobile App Native desktop and mobile application that allows users to run Etherpad as a standalone app on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS without opening a browser.
- Etherpad Command-line Client Command-line client for creating, reading, and editing pads directly from the terminal. Designed for scripting and automating Etherpad workflows.
- pad — Terminal Editor A nano-class terminal text editor that allows local file editing or joining any pad for real-time collaborative editing directly in the terminal, with all edits syncing live.
- Printing Press Agent-native Etherpad tooling consisting of a Go CLI, a Claude Code skill, and an MCP server, generated from a spec so AI agents can drive Etherpad programmatically.
- Etherpad Scanner Security-focused scanner for public Etherpad instances that checks whether an instance is healthy, correctly configured, and up to date.
- Etherpad Scale Calculator Tool for estimating the CPU, memory, and number of instances required for a target number of concurrent users in an Etherpad deployment.
- Etherpad Home Assistant Add-on Official self-hosted Etherpad add-on for Home Assistant, enabling collaborative notes functionality on a Home Assistant smart home system with installation in a couple of clicks.
- ueberDB Database abstraction layer that powers Etherpad, providing a unified API over MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, SQLite, and other supported databases.
- Etherpad Plugin Directory Directory of hundreds of community plugins hosted on npm that extend Etherpad functionality, including comments, images, tables, drawing, video chat, math, code highlighting, OAuth/LDAP/OpenID authentication, AI integrations, and more.
- Socket.IO Proxy Reference proxy for Etherpad's real-time Socket.IO traffic, serving as a starting point for inspecting or routing pad messages in scaled deployments.
Quantifiable outcome
- ~10k msgs/sec per node throughput
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Etherpad
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Etherpad technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration9 records
AI capability2 records
Feature10 records
Etherpad partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.
- The Apache Software FoundationminorEtherpad's design is adapted from Apache software by Marcel Klehr. The project uses Apache 2.0 license. This is a licensing/design acknowledgment, not a formal partnership.
- translatewiki.netminorTranslation process handled via translatewiki.net where volunteers contribute translations, enabling 105-language support.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Etherpad competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Collabora Online: LibreOffice-based open-source online office suite, embedded into Nextcloud and other self-hosted stacks. Directly comparable as a self-hosted collaborative editor targeting enterprise and public-sector deployments with regulatory requirements.
- OnlyOffice: Open-source office and document collaboration suite with self-hosted and cloud editions. Competes with Etherpad for institutional and regulated-industry buyers who need full office functionality (docs, sheets, slides) under their own infrastructure.
- Nextcloud (Nextcloud Office / Text): Open-source self-hosted collaboration platform bundling file sync, document editing, chat, and more. Competes for the same sovereignty-conscious institutional buyers; integrates Collabora Online as its document editor.
- CryptPad: Open-source, self-hosted, end-to-end encrypted collaborative document editor (text, sheets, code, slides). Closest functional analogue to Etherpad with stronger privacy framing and a more active monetization track (paid hosted instances), competing for the same sovereignty-conscious institutional buyers.
- HedgeDoc: Open-source, self-hostable collaborative markdown editor (formerly CodiMD). Targets the same developer-and-education segment with a markdown-first approach, offering near-direct overlap with Etherpad for note-taking and collaborative drafting use cases.
Broad incumbents
- Notion: Commercial collaborative workspace combining docs, databases, and wikis. Sets UX expectations for collaborative editing in the broader market; relevant peer for feature parity and pricing benchmark even though Notion is cloud-only.
- Microsoft 365 (Word Online / Loop): Enterprise-grade collaborative document and productivity suite dominating institutional and government procurement. Represents the primary commercial incumbent Etherpad displaces in sovereignty-driven accounts.
- Google Docs (Workspace): Default cloud-based collaborative editor with massive scale and deep integrations. The mainstream incumbent that Etherpad is explicitly differentiated against on sovereignty, telemetry, and authorship grounds.
Emerging players
- Outline: Self-hostable team wiki and knowledge base with collaborative editing. Adjacent peer that competes with Etherpad for team documentation and institutional knowledge-management use cases.
- AppFlowy: Open-source Notion alternative offering collaborative docs, databases, and kanban with self-hosting. Overlaps with Etherpad in the collaborative-document category but extends into databases and project management.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Etherpad social profiles
Digital presenceEtherpad financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Etherpad leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Etherpad funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Etherpad M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Etherpad
What does Etherpad do?
Etherpad is a free, open-source (Apache 2.0) real-time collaborative text editor that runs on the user's own server. Every keystroke is attributed to its author with visible author colors, and the full revision history is preserved and navigable via a timeslider. The product is extended by an ecosystem of 290+ plugins and a family of official apps, clients, and tools.
Is Etherpad a public or private company?
Etherpad is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Etherpad founded?
Etherpad was founded in 2009. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Etherpad based?
Etherpad is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Etherpad make money?
One revenue line is on record: open Source (No Direct Revenue).
Who are Etherpad's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Collabora Online, OnlyOffice, Nextcloud (Nextcloud Office / Text), CryptPad and HedgeDoc. Broad incumbents are Notion, Microsoft 365 (Word Online / Loop) and Google Docs (Workspace). Emerging players are Outline and AppFlowy.
Does Etherpad have an API?
Yes. Etherpad exposes a full HTTP API (current version 1.3.1) accessible via both GET and POST requests. The API enables creating/deleting pads, granting access, and getting/setting pad content. Authentication is via a per-deployment API key stored in APIKEY.txt. OpenAPI (Swagger) definitions are available at /api/openapi.json (latest) and /api/3.3.2/openapi.json. API methods cover Groups, Authors, Sessions, Pad Content (getText, setText, getHTML, setHTML, appendText), Chat, Pad management (create, copy, move, delete, compact), and global stats. A node module exposes all functions for use in other Node.js applications. HTTP API client libraries in various programming languages are documented on the GitHub wiki. Developer documentation is at etherpad.org/doc/v3.3.2/index.html.
What industry is Etherpad in?
Etherpad's product category is Open Source Collaborative Editing Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAFAGAD, Digital Whiteboards, Annotation & Collaborative Canvas Tools. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.