Apple Pages vs Etherpad

Apple Pages is a document app for writing, laying out, and designing documents on iOS, macOS, and the web. It includes Apple-designed templates for reports, resumes, posters, and digital books, and supports both word-processing and page-layout documents such as newsletters. Documents can contain images, video, audio, tables, charts, and shapes. Review tools include comments, threaded conversations, and change tracking. Pages can import and edit Microsoft Word and text files, then export to EPUB, Microsoft Word, RTF, TXT, or PDF. Collaboration works through iCloud or Box, while EndNote citation insertion is available on Mac. Pages for iCloud lets users create, edit, and share documents on iCloud.com using a computer. Core document creation, editing, and collaboration are free. Apple Creator Studio adds premium templates, royalty-free content, and intelligence features; it costs $12.99 a month or 129 USD per year after a one-month free trial. Some intelligence features require an Apple Intelligence-capable device and may have usage limits or restrictions.

Etherpad is a real-time collaborative editor that runs on a server its users control. It attributes edits to authors and preserves revisions; its timeslider lets users review changes character by character and reverse them. Editing includes chat and rich-text tools, while plugins can add comments, images, tables, drawing, video chat, math, code highlighting and authentication. Optional AI is available through plugins, and users can choose the model and infrastructure or leave AI disabled. Etherpad is free and open source under Apache 2.0, with an open data format; the maker says it has no telemetry. An HTTP API covers pad content, authors, groups, sessions and chat, and plugin support includes OAuth, LDAP and OpenID authentication. Apps are listed for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, alongside support for modern browsers. Installation instructions require Git and Node.js 24 or later. Deployment documentation includes reverse proxy and HTTPS termination options, as well as Kubernetes. The project dates to 2009 and is maintained by a small volunteer team, with community contact through Discord and email. The site names schools, public institutions, civic projects, newsrooms and teams needing document authorship history among its users.