CryptPad

Decentralized Application

End-to-end-encrypted collaborative office suite providing zero-knowledge real-time editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, kanban boards, code/markdown, forms, whiteboards, calendars, and a personal drive. Server operators cannot read user content. Open-source AGPL; self-hostable; widely deployed across the French government, education sector, journalism, activism, and civic organizations globally. Developed by XWiki SAS (France) with substantial EU and community funding. Real-time collaboration without requiring participant accounts. Constituent partner in the ELFA consortium for the EU-funded encrypted local-first workspace initiative built on NextGraph.

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License Open source — AGPL-3.0 (github.com/cryptpad/cryptpad); full server and client code public; self-hostable
Dev Status 🟢 Active
Dev Status Detail Released / Mature — production-deployed at scale; cryptpad.fr is the flagship instance; many third-party self-hosted instances; active development with regular feature releases
Owner XWiki SAS (lead developer, France); CryptPad team within XWiki SAS; open-source community contributors via the cryptpad/cryptpad GitHub repository
Country France (XWiki SAS is French; flagship instance cryptpad.fr is EU-hosted); international community
Start Year 2014
Stack JavaScript / Node.js (server); JavaScript and WebAssembly (browser client); ChainPad CRDT (real-time collaboration engine); OnlyOffice integration (for rich-text, spreadsheets, presentations); WebSocket transport
Funding EU funding via NLnet (multiple grants), NGI initiatives, Horizon Europe (now via ELFA consortium); XWiki SAS commercial revenue; OpenCollective community donations; French government adoption funding
Last Investigated Jul 1, 2026

Use Case Domains

Co-Creation & Knowledge

Decentralized Application Attributes

Origins Zero-knowledge collaborative editing (XWiki SAS research into client-side encrypted collaborative documents; CryptPad was originally an experimental complement to the XWiki enterprise wiki product, matured into a standalone product)
Database Server-side encrypted blob storage (filesystem-based by default; pluggable backends); per-document encryption keys derived client-side; server holds only encrypted blobs and cannot decrypt content
Query Language N/A — application-level; document navigation via folder-tree UI in CryptDrive
Data Formats Native CryptPad documents (encrypted blob format with ChainPad CRDT operation logs); export to open formats — .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .odt, .ods, .odp (via OnlyOffice integration), .md, .html, .pdf, .csv, .json, .png (whiteboard); import from same formats
Collaborative Live Editing Yes — real-time multi-user collaboration on all document types via ChainPad CRDT; concurrent editing with operational transformation and conflict-free merge; visible cursors and presence indicators
Rich Text Editing Yes — full rich-text editing via OnlyOffice integration (CryptPad Docs); markdown editing in code/markdown pads; document, spreadsheet, and presentation editors all support full formatting
Mobile Support Yes — browser-based, responsive design works on mobile browsers (iOS Safari, Android Chrome); no native mobile app (browser-only)
Web Support Yes — CryptPad is fundamentally a web application; full functionality in modern browsers
Native Apps No native desktop or mobile apps (browser-based by design); the browser is the client; some third-party Electron wrappers exist but are not officially supported
Terms Open Source / Free (AGPL-3.0); CryptPad's flagship instance cryptpad.fr offers free tier (1 GB) plus paid tiers for larger storage; self-hosting is free
Funds Cumulative EU/NLnet funding in the hundreds of thousands of euros across multiple grants; OpenCollective donations of approximately tens of thousands of euros annually; ELFA Horizon Europe funding (consortium share to be allocated through the 3-year program); XWiki SAS commercial revenue not separately disclosed
Based On ChainPad CRDT (XWiki SAS-developed collaborative editing primitive; foundational); OnlyOffice (integrated for rich document editing); WebSocket-based real-time transport; client-side cryptographic primitives (NaCl / TweetNaCl for signatures and encryption)
Use Case Category Collaborative knowledge work; community organizing; education; journalism with confidential sources; activism and human rights work; remote teamwork; encrypted document storage and sharing
User Interface Type Browser-based web application; CryptDrive (folder-tree file manager) as the primary navigation surface; per-app editors opened in browser tabs; mobile-responsive
Offline Capabilities Limited — CryptPad is fundamentally an online collaboration tool; documents are accessible while browser tab is open and connected; export to local files (docx, ods, etc.) for offline work; no first-class offline mode
Collaboration Features Real-time multi-user editing; presence indicators (visible cursors and user list); per-document access control (owner, editor, viewer roles); team workspaces (shared folder trees with role-based access); shared chat per document; comments and review modes in office apps; password-protected documents; expiration timers; access without recipient account
Data Portability Yes — full export to open formats (docx, ods, odp, pdf, csv, md, html, png); per-document export or bulk drive export; AGPL self-hosting means users can run their own instances and migrate freely; no proprietary format lock-in beyond the temporary encrypted server-side blob form
Integration Ecosystem Federation with other CryptPad instances via shared URLs (cross-instance sharing of documents); OnlyOffice integration; export to most common office formats; no native API for third-party apps (by design — zero-knowledge architecture limits server-side integrations); embeddable read-only views
Web2 Data Export Yes — all document content exportable to standard formats (docx, ods, odp, csv, md, html, pdf, png); drive export bundles entire user folder tree; no lock-in
Prosocial Coherence Strong — privacy-by-design enables organizing for civic, activist, and human-rights work without surveillance exposure; widely adopted in education to give students collaboration tools without Big Tech account requirements; commitment-driven business model (AGPL plus paid hosting tiers) rather than data-extraction model
Economic Flows AGPL open source plus paid premium tiers on flagship instance (cryptpad.fr); OpenCollective donations; EU/NLnet grants; XWiki SAS commercial services around enterprise CryptPad; no advertising; no data monetization; ELFA consortium funding stream beginning 2026
Governance & Decision Making XWiki SAS leads technical direction (CryptPad is an XWiki SAS product); community contribution via GitHub issues and pull requests; user-facing decisions informed by community forum, Mastodon, OpenCollective community feedback; ELFA consortium governance for the cross-partner integration work
Media / Publishing Document, presentation, rich-text, and markdown apps support publishing workflows; export to PDF and HTML for distribution; password-protected public viewing links; no native blog or feed publishing (documents are primarily collaboration artifacts, not publishing channels)
Knowledge Management CryptDrive folder-tree organization; team workspaces with shared folder hierarchies; tag/star support; full-text search within documents; whiteboard and markdown apps for free-form notes and knowledge capture; kanban for structured tracking; forms for surveys and structured data collection
Sensemaking Whiteboard app for visual sensemaking and diagramming; markdown and document apps for narrative synthesis; forms app for structured input from groups; kanban for organizing emergent themes; no dedicated sensemaking-specific tools but the general toolset supports group sensemaking workflows
Project Management Kanban app for project tracking; team workspaces for shared project documents; calendar app for scheduling; forms for input collection; no dedicated PM features like Gantt charts or dependency tracking (general-purpose tools rather than specialized PM platform)
Communication Model Per-document chat (real-time messaging within each document); team workspaces with shared chat; asynchronous via document editing and comments; not a primary messaging platform — CryptPad's communication is document-centric rather than channel-centric
Network Resilience Self-hostable — communities can run their own instances on their own infrastructure; multiple independent public instances exist worldwide; no single point of failure across the federated instance ecosystem; per-instance availability depends on operator; client-side encryption means any instance can host any document without trusted relationship
Discovery Mechanism URL-based — documents are discovered through shared links; no global directory or search across documents (zero-knowledge design precludes server-side indexing); instance directory at cryptpad.org/instances/ for choosing a public instance
Max Participants Practical concurrent-editor limit is in the tens for real-time editing on a single document (performance degrades with very large concurrent editor counts due to CRDT operation overhead); team workspaces and document sharing support arbitrary participant counts asynchronously; no hard protocol-level limit
Data Sovereignty High — end-to-end encryption means even instance operators cannot read user content; self-hostable for full infrastructural sovereignty; export to open formats means no format lock-in; AGPL ensures ongoing modifiability; widely adopted in the EU education and government sector specifically for data sovereignty reasons