Dropbox Paper vs Etherpad

Dropbox Paper is a collaborative document tool for teams, built around documents with timelines, to-dos, and tables. To-dos can be assigned and given due dates, then viewed in a Things to do sidebar. Timelines collect deadlines, files, and to-dos and can be viewed by week, month, quarter, or year; on mobile, timelines are read-only. Paper is free, and a Dropbox account with sign-in is required to create or access documents. There is no limit on the number of Paper documents in an account, and each uses less than 100 bytes of Dropbox storage. The separate Dropbox Paper mobile app was discontinued on October 9, 2025, while Paper remains available on the web. In the Dropbox desktop app, Paper documents open on dropbox.com unless exported as PDF, DOCX, or Markdown. Paper supports real-time collaboration, track changes, and offline editing. Some users can connect Paper with Google or Outlook calendars to link documents to events and make meeting notes. Documents are encrypted at rest with 256-bit AES and in transit with SSL/TLS.

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.