Self-hosted alternatives to Microsoft Office
Want office suite (documents, spreadsheets, presentations) without handing your data to Microsoft Office? These 6 self-hosted apps run on your own server. Cheapest estimated hosting starts at about $20/month.
About Microsoft Office: Microsoft's office suite with Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
| App | Health | Stars | License | Docker | RAM (est.) | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etherpad | Active | 18.6k | Apache-2.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Grist | Active | 12k | Apache-2.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| CryptPad | Active | 8.1k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| ONLYOFFICE | Active | 7.1k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Digislides | Active | 1 | AGPL-3.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Collabora Online Development Edition | Unknown | – | MPL-2.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
The options in detail
1. Etherpad
Highly customizable online editor providing collaborative editing in real-time.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v3.3.15 (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
2. Grist
Next-generation spreadsheet with relational structure, formula-based access control, and a portable, self-contained format (alternative to Airtable).
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release v1.7.22 (2026-10-29). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
3. CryptPad
Collaboration suite built to enable collaboration, synchronizing changes to documents in real time.
Active Last commit 2026-10-28. 7 releases in the past year. Latest release 2026.10.0 (2026-10-21). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
4. ONLYOFFICE
Office suite that enables you to manage documents, projects, team and customer relations in one place.
Active Last commit 2026-10-26. Latest release v10.0.0 (2026-10-12). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
5. Digislides
Create multimedia presentations in a quick and easy way (documentation in French).
Active Last commit 2026-10-20. 10 releases in the past year. Latest release 0.7.3 (2026-10-11). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
6. Collabora Online Development Edition
Collabora Online Development Edition (CODE) is a powerful LibreOffice-based online office that supports all major document, spreadsheet and presentation file formats, which you can integrate in your own infrastructure.
Unknown Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
Why self-host instead of Microsoft Office?
- Own your data — it lives on a server you control, with backups you decide on.
- Predictable cost — a small VPS often replaces per-seat pricing for a whole team or family.
- No lock-in — open-source licenses let you keep running the software even if a vendor disappears.
The trade-off: you are responsible for updates, backups and security. Pick an app marked Active (a commit in the last 90 days) and with Docker support for the easiest ride.
Browse related categories
Other alternatives guides
Microsoft Office is a trademark of its owner; this site is not affiliated with it. Listings come from the community-maintained awesome-selfhosted list.