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Etherpad vs HackMD: catalog facts
Etherpad	HackMD
Free Free and open source under the Apache licence. Hosting is separate.	Freemium Free to start, with paid plans for teams.
Web, Self-hosted	Web
Authorship colouring and a timeslider through the entire edit history Very light to run, with a large plugin ecosystem	Real-time collaborative Markdown editing Works in any browser with no install
Plain text with minimal formatting; it is not a word processor Plugin quality varies and some conflict	Notes live on a hosted service rather than local files Increasing focus on AI agent features may not suit everyone
Self-hosted, Web application	Web application
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 24, 2026

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