Best Open Source Alternatives to Dropbox Paper

Compare the best free and open-source alternatives to Dropbox Paper — self-hosted and desktop replacements you fully control, ranked by GitHub stars, license and platform support.

Curated by open-source.store · Updated August 2026 · 6 alternatives

Dropbox Paper

Proprietary SaaS

PricingFree

Platformsweb, mobile, android, ios

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Dropbox Paper alternatives compared

Open-source alternatives to Dropbox Paper, compared by stars, license and platform
Tool		License	Platforms	Self-hosted
Yjs	22,271	MIT	Web	No	Jul 2026	Visit
Etherpad Lite	18,465	Apache-2.0	LinuxmacOSWindowsDocker	Yes	Jul 2026	Visit
CodiMD	10,124	AGPL-3.0	LinuxmacOSWindowsDocker	Yes	Oct 2025	Visit
CryptPad Document	7,817	AGPL-3.0	LinuxmacOSWindowsDocker	Yes	Jul 2026	Visit
HedgeDoc	7,339	AGPL-3.0	LinuxmacOSWindowsDocker	Yes	Aug 2026	Visit
Collabora Online Writer	3,313	MPL-2.0	LinuxmacOSWindowsDocker	Yes	Jul 2026	Visit

Top open-source Dropbox Paper alternatives

Yjs22,271MIT

A high-performance CRDT library for syncing collaborative text and data structures.

Web

vs Dropbox Paper: a free, open-source option you fully control, licensed MIT.

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Etherpad Lite18,465Apache-2.0

A lightweight version of Etherpad built with Node.js supporting real-time text sync.

LinuxmacOSWindowsDockerWeb

vs Dropbox Paper: a free, open-source option you fully control, licensed Apache-2.0.

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CodiMD10,124AGPL-3.0

A collaborative markdown editor tool backed by Node.js and PostgreSQL.

LinuxmacOSWindowsDockerWeb

vs Dropbox Paper: a free, open-source option you fully control, licensed AGPL-3.0.

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CryptPad Document7,817AGPL-3.0

A collaborative rich-text document editor within the CryptPad zero-knowledge suite.

LinuxmacOSWindowsDockerWeb

vs Dropbox Paper: a free, open-source option you fully control, licensed AGPL-3.0.

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HedgeDoc7,339AGPL-3.0

An open-source real-time collaborative markdown document editor formerly known as CodiMD.

LinuxmacOSWindowsDockerWeb

vs Dropbox Paper: a free, open-source option you fully control, licensed AGPL-3.0.

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Best Open Source Alternatives to Dropbox Paper

Dropbox Paper

Dropbox Paper alternatives compared

Top open-source Dropbox Paper alternatives

More alternatives to Dropbox Paper

Collabora Online Writer