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Etherpad vs Google Workspace: catalog facts
Etherpad	Google Workspace
Free Free and open source under the Apache licence. Hosting is separate.	Freemium Listed as freemium, with paid plans for teams and businesses.
Web, Self-hosted	Web
Authorship colouring and a timeslider through the entire edit history Very light to run, with a large plugin ecosystem	Documents, spreadsheets, slides, mail, storage and meetings in one account Real-time collaboration on shared files
Plain text with minimal formatting; it is not a word processor Plugin quality varies and some conflict	All files are stored on Google's servers Requires a Google account
Self-hosted, Web application	Web application, Hosted service
Open source	Closed source
License: Apache-2.0	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	Account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.