One of the biggest reasons people use Google Docs is its simplicity, where you can create, edit, and share documents with others in real time, making collaboration easy.
All you need is a Google account, and you get access to the entire Google Workspace ecosystem, including Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Meet, and Drive.
That said, online office suites have come a long way over the years, and Google is no longer the only company offering powerful tools for creating and collaborating on documents.
Whether you’re looking for better privacy, self-hosted solutions, open-source software, or simply want to reduce your dependence on Google’s ecosystem, there are plenty of excellent alternatives available.
Many of these alternatives offer familiar features such as document editing, spreadsheets, presentations, cloud storage, and real-time collaboration, while giving you greater control over your data.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the best Google Docs alternatives for Linux.
These tools let you collaborate with others, edit documents online, and stay productive, without relying entirely on Google’s services.
ONLYOFFICE Docs belongs to those Google Docs alternatives that give you the freedom to create a comfortable collaborative environment within your local network.
It’s an open-source and self-hosted office suite oriented towards collaboration and online work.
ONLYOFFICE Docs features tools to create, edit, and co-author text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and electronic forms as well as a viewer for PDF and DjVu files.
The suite’s native formats are OOXML (DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX), which makes it completely compatible with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.
Other popular file extensions, like ODT, ODS, and ODP, are supported too, but only via conversion to OOXML.
When it comes to online document collaboration, ONLYOFFICE Docs offers everything you need to work with other people in real-time.
There are two co-editing modes (Strict and Fast), version history, track changes, review, document comparison and combination, comments, flexible sharing permissions, chats, and communication with audio and video calls via the Jitsi and Zoom plugins.
What makes ONLYOFFICE Docs stand out is its integration with ChatGPT.
If you have an API key, you can install the corresponding plugin and use the AI to analyze texts, make summaries, translate into German and French, generate images, find synonyms, and more.
What’s more, ONLYOFFICE can enable document editing and co-authoring within a number of popular cloud storage platforms, document management systems, and even e-learning solutions.
Such integration is made possible due to the so-called connectors or integration apps.
Some examples are Seafile, Nextcloud, WordPress, Moodle, Redmine, Mattermost, ownCloud, and many others.
For individual users and small teams, ONLYOFFICE Docs has a free community version with no editing limitations.
There is also a self-hosted enterprise edition with some extra features and professional support.
If you want to get a ready-to-use ONLYOFFICE Document Server, you can opt for its cloud-based version, hosted and maintained by the developers, but it will cost you some money.
The ONLYOFFICE desktop and mobile apps are always free.
Key benefits:
The fastest way to get it running is with Docker:
On Ubuntu/Debian without Docker:
On RHEL/Rocky Linux:
Collabora Online is a powerful, collaborative online office suite built on LibreOffice technology.
It’s what you get when LibreOffice learns to live in a browser tab rather than on a desktop, and it’s the most natural fit for teams already running Nextcloud.
Collabora Online is the default document editor that ships with Nextcloud Hub, which means if you’re already running Nextcloud for file storage, you can add Collabora as the document editor with a single app install and no additional server setup.
In late 2025, Collabora also launched a new desktop version called Collabora Office, which brings the same modern web interface to Linux, Windows, and macOS as a native offline application.
It removes the Java dependency entirely, resulting in a cleaner install and a smaller download.
Your documents stay on your device unless you choose to share them.
The Docker install is the fastest path for the server-side Collabora Online Development Edition (CODE):
Replace with the actual domain your Nextcloud instance runs on.
If you see a Permission denied error on the port, check that your firewall isn’t blocking 9980.
On Ubuntu/Debian without Docker:
On RHEL/Rocky Linux:
After installation, edit /etc/coolwsd/coolwsd.xml to set your allowed hosts and SSL settings, then restart the service:
Collabora logs to the systemd journal by default.
If something’s not connecting, journalctl -u coolwsd -f will show you exactly what’s happening in real time.
For the new desktop version on Linux, install it via Flatpak:
Key benefits:
CryptPad is an end-to-end encrypted and open source suite of collaborative apps.
This service, with servers hosted in France, is perhaps best suited to those who want the benefits of real-time collaboration without trusting a third party with their content.
Using CryptPad, you can be absolutely sure that your data is encrypted in the web browser before it ever leaves your machine.
Only you can access your files stored in CryptDrive, the service’s file storage hub.
Even the CryptPad administrators cannot see any user data.
CryptPad includes a rich text editor, spreadsheets, Kanban boards, whiteboards, a code editor, markdown slides, and forms.
The Spring 2026 release upgraded the office document apps to OnlyOffice 9 and added a new sketch-mode whiteboard that defaults to a simpler canvas, which works well for quick diagrams without the full draw.io feature set getting in the way.
Team drives, calendars, and file sharing are the main features offered by CryptPad for collaborative work.
You can create shared folders, share files with other users, add contacts for encrypted collaboration, and create user profiles.
You can also adjust access configuration and access your CryptDrive account from any device.
The good news about CryptPad is that you can use its most essential features for free without registering for an account.
As an anonymous guest, you can create and edit files, but they can’t be shared and will be deleted after 90 days of inactivity.
A free registered account requires no personal information and gives you 1GB of cloud storage space.
To self-host it on your own server:
Next, edit config/config.js to set your domain and storage paths, then start the server:
For production, put Nginx in front of it as a reverse proxy and run it under a process manager like PM2.
The official CryptPad documentation has a detailed server setup guide if you need it.
Key benefits:
Proton Docs is the newest addition to this list and the easiest to start using.
It’s built by the team behind ProtonMail and Proton VPN, and it brings the same end-to-end encryption philosophy to document editing.
Every document you create in Proton Docs is encrypted client-side before it leaves your browser.
Proton’s servers in Switzerland store only encrypted data, which means even Proton cannot read your files.
This is a meaningful distinction from Google Docs, where Google has full access to everything you write.
Proton Docs is part of Proton Drive, which means your documents live alongside your other encrypted files and can be shared with the same access controls.
Proton Sheets, an encrypted spreadsheet companion, launched in late 2025, and the suite continues to grow steadily.
The one limitation compared to the self-hosted tools on this list is that there’s no Linux desktop app yet.
Proton Docs runs in the browser, and a native Linux client for Proton Drive is currently in active development.
In June 2026, Proton did release a Drive CLI for Linux users who want to manage their files from the terminal:
The CLI is built on the same SDK as the Drive apps, so it’s fully interoperable with anything you create in the web interface.
For scripting encrypted backups or syncing documents from a server, it’s already useful today.
To start using Proton Docs right now, create a free account at proton.me.
The free tier gives you 1GB of storage and access to both Proton Docs and Proton Sheets.
Key benefits:
Etherpad is an interesting software tool, but it’s not a complete alternative to Google Docs because it focuses entirely on text editing.
It doesn’t allow you to create and edit spreadsheets or presentations, which can be a big disadvantage for some Linux users.
However, Etherpad is a solid option if you just want to use your web browser and collaborate on text documents in real-time.
Etherpad is open source, which gives you access to its code.
That’s why you can modify the Etherpad code for any purpose.
Because Etherpad is hosted on your own server, you know you have full control over your documents.
Getting started with Etherpad is a piece of cake.
You can choose one of the publicly available instances that have already been set up and configured by other enthusiasts from all over the world.
Obviously, this option is not good if you are going to work with sensitive data and confidential text documents.
Alternatively, you can deploy your own instance to work in a more secure environment.
When it comes to functionality, Etherpad has all the necessary basic features to create, edit, and collaborate on text documents with other users.
Another advantage of the editor is that it’s highly customizable through plugins.
For example, you can add various formatting and editing add-ons, like a table of contents and hyperlinks.
Also, you can even enable audio and video calls and embed media files, such as YouTube videos.
Etherpad is free, but you are always welcome to donate if you like the project.
Getting it running takes less than 2 minutes:
Etherpad starts on port 9001 by default, so point your browser at http://localhost:9001 and the pad interface is ready immediately.
For production, set up Nginx as a reverse proxy in front of port 9001 and run Etherpad as a systemd service.
Key benefits:
If you need collaborative document software to work with other users in real-time, your choice is not limited to Google Docs, but there are solid web-based solutions you can install on your Linux machine or access via your web browser, all of which give you more control over your data than Google ever will.
Our recommendations:
All of these options are available for free and work fine on Linux.
Is there anything that we missed? Let us know by joining the discussion below.
16 Microsoft Teams Alternatives for Linux Users in 2026
10 Linux Download Managers That Actually Work in 2026
22 Best Free C/C++ IDEs and Editors for Linux in 2026
12 Open-Source WYSIWYG Editors Worth Using in 2026
3 Must-Have Break Apps for Linux Users (If You Work 8–9 Hours a Day)
5 Must-Try AI Tools for Linux Users in 2026
Zoho Docs also a alternative to Google Docs, which offers a word processor, spreadsheet editor, and presentation.
It provides collaboration features and supports various file formats, including Microsoft Office documents.
Zoho Docs can be accessed through a web browser or using desktop and mobile applications.
How to Check Integrity of File and Directory Using “AIDE” in Linux
Arpwatch – Monitor Ethernet Activity {IP and Mac Address} in Linux
Web VMStat: A Real Time System Statistics (Memory, CPU, Processess, etc) Monitoring Tool for Linux
Install Munin (Network Monitoring) in RHEL, CentOS and Fedora
How to Setup Central Logging Server with Rsyslog in Linux
BpyTop – Resource Monitoring Tool for Linux
How to Run a Command with Time Limit (Timeout) In Linux
Tips to Create ISO from CD, Watch User Activity and Check Memory Usages of Browser
Ncdu – A Powerful NCurses-Based Disk Usage Analyzer for Linux
How to Fix “rm: cannot remove ‘file’: Device or Resource Busy” in Linux
How to Install ‘locate Command’ to Find Files in Linux
Todo.txt – Manages Your Todo Tasks from Linux Terminal
8 Best Command-Line/Terminal Email Clients for Linux
5 Best Mathematical Equation and Formula Writing Tools for Linux
11 Best Self-Hosted Alternatives to Google Photos
6 Best Command-Line FTP Clients for Linux Users
10 Tools to Take or Capture Desktop Screenshots in Linux
Top 5 Open-Source Enterprise Software for Linux in 2024
—
**📚 Original Source:**
[5 Google Docs Alternatives You Can Self-Host on Linux](https://www.tecmint.com/google-docs-alternatives/)
About The Author
