Etherpad

Etherpad is a powerful open-source collaborative document editor that enables real-time multi-user editing with instant synchronization across all participants. Unlike traditional document collaboration tools that require expensive licenses or force users onto commercial cloud platforms, Etherpad provides self-hosted real-time collaboration with complete data ownership. The platform has gained widespread adoption in academic institutions, development teams, and organizations requiring collaborative writing without depending on Google Docs, Microsoft Office 365, or other commercial services that monetize user data and impose usage restrictions.

Common Use Cases

Development teams use Etherpad for collaborative technical documentation, sprint planning notes, and incident response coordination where multiple engineers need to simultaneously edit runbooks or troubleshooting guides during critical situations. Educational institutions leverage the platform for collaborative learning exercises where students work together on assignments, with color-coded contributions allowing instructors to assess individual participation. Meeting facilitators deploy Etherpad for real-time note-taking during discussions, with participants simultaneously capturing action items, decisions, and discussion points that are immediately visible to all attendees. Open source projects use Etherpad for community brainstorming sessions and collaborative RFC drafting, with the version history preserving the evolution of ideas through discussion iterations. Journalists and content teams collaborate on article drafts with real-time editing, avoiding the email back-and-forth or locked document conflicts common with traditional word processors.

Key Features

• Real-time collaborative editing with instant synchronization across all users
• Color-coded authorship showing each user's contributions
• No user registration or software installation required
• Comprehensive version history with timeline scrubbing and rollback
• Clean, distraction-free writing interface
• Chat sidebar for communication during collaboration
• Import and export in multiple formats including HTML, plain text, and PDF
• Extensible plugin system for additional functionality
• Admin panel for managing pads and settings
• Customizable skins and themes
• Session transfer between browsers and devices
• PostgreSQL backend for reliable data persistence

Why deploy Etherpad on Hostinger VPS

Deploying Etherpad on Hostinger VPS provides real-time collaborative editing capabilities under your exclusive control, eliminating dependence on Google Docs that scans document content for advertising targeting or Microsoft Office 365 that charges per-user subscription fees regardless of actual usage. Unlike commercial collaboration platforms that may lock documents when multiple users edit simultaneously or impose arbitrary document size limits, Etherpad handles unlimited concurrent editors with no file size restrictions beyond available storage. The dedicated resources ensure consistent real-time synchronization performance even during intensive editing sessions with dozens of simultaneous collaborators, avoiding the lag and sync conflicts common on shared hosting where resource contention causes keystroke delays that frustrate collaborative workflows. With self-hosted infrastructure, sensitive documents remain on your VPS rather than being uploaded to commercial cloud services where they might be scanned by content moderation algorithms, accessed through government data requests, or included in service provider machine learning training datasets. For organizations with compliance requirements around data residency—such as GDPR mandates that EU documents remain in EU jurisdictions or attorney-client privilege requiring complete access control—VPS deployment ensures collaborative documents never leave controlled infrastructure. The persistent PostgreSQL storage maintains complete edit history and version snapshots that commercial platforms might purge after arbitrary retention periods, ensuring long-term preservation of collaborative work products and decision-making documentation required for compliance audits or historical research.