Productivity Tools
Most online office suites do not support E2EE, meaning the cloud provider has access to everything you do. The privacy policy may legally protect your rights, but it does not provide technical access constraints.
Collaboration Platforms¶
Nextcloud¶
Nextcloud is a suite of free and open-source client-server software for creating your own file hosting services on a private server you control.
Danger
We don't recommend using the E2EE App for Nextcloud as it may lead to data loss; it is highly experimental and not production quality. For this reason, we don't recommend third-party Nextcloud providers.
CryptPad¶
CryptPad is a private-by-design alternative to popular office tools. All content on this web service is end-to-end encrypted and can be shared with other users easily.
Criteria¶
Please note we are not affiliated with any of the projects we recommend. In addition to our standard criteria, we have developed a clear set of requirements to allow us to provide objective recommendations. We suggest you familiarize yourself with this list before choosing to use a project, and conduct your own research to ensure it's the right choice for you.
Minimum Requirements¶
In general, we define collaboration platforms as full-fledged suites which could reasonably act as a replacement to collaboration platforms like Google Drive.
- Open source.
- Makes files accessible via WebDAV unless it is impossible due to E2EE.
- Has sync clients for Linux, macOS, and Windows.
- Supports document and spreadsheet editing.
- Supports real-time document collaboration.
- Supports exporting documents to standard document formats (e.g. ODF).
Best-Case¶
Our best-case criteria represents what we would like to see from the perfect project in this category. Our recommendations may not include any or all of this functionality, but those which do may rank higher than others on this page.
- Should store files in a conventional filesystem.
- Should support TOTP or FIDO2 multi-factor authentication support, or passkey logins.
Office Suites¶
LibreOffice¶
LibreOffice is a free and open-source office suite with extensive functionality.
OnlyOffice¶
OnlyOffice is a cloud-based free and open-source office suite with extensive functionality, including integration with Nextcloud.
Criteria¶
Please note we are not affiliated with any of the projects we recommend. In addition to our standard criteria, we have developed a clear set of requirements to allow us to provide objective recommendations. We suggest you familiarize yourself with this list before choosing to use a project, and conduct your own research to ensure it's the right choice for you.
In general, we define office suites as applications which could reasonably act as a replacement for Microsoft Word for most needs.
- Must be cross-platform.
- Must be open-source software.
- Must function offline.
- Must support editing documents, spreadsheets, and slideshows.
- Must export files to standard document formats.
Paste services¶
PrivateBin¶
PrivateBin is a minimalist, open-source online pastebin where the server has zero knowledge of pasted data. Data is encrypted/decrypted in the browser using 256-bit AES. It is the improved version of ZeroBin.
Criteria¶
Please note we are not affiliated with any of the projects we recommend. In addition to our standard criteria, we have developed a clear set of requirements to allow us to provide objective recommendations. We suggest you familiarize yourself with this list before choosing to use a project, and conduct your own research to ensure it's the right choice for you.
Minimum Requirements¶
- Must be open source.
- Must implement "zero-trust" end-to-end encryption.
- Must support password-protected files.
Best-Case¶
Our best-case criteria represents what we would like to see from the perfect project in this category. Our recommendations may not include any or all of this functionality, but those which do may rank higher than others on this page.
- Should have a published audit from a reputable, independent third-party.
Language services¶
LanguageTool¶
LanguageTool is a multilingual grammar, style and spell checker that supports more than 20 languages. The software is self-hostable, and the extensions do not send your input text to their server.
LanguageTool offers integration with a variety of office suites and email clients.
Criteria¶
Please note we are not affiliated with any of the projects we recommend. In addition to our standard criteria, we have developed a clear set of requirements to allow us to provide objective recommendations. We suggest you familiarize yourself with this list before choosing to use a project, and conduct your own research to ensure it's the right choice for you.
- Must be open source.
- Must be possible to self-host.
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