Instead of Google Docs and Sheets
Browser documents and spreadsheets with live collaboration.
Collaborative editing is the hardest thing on this list to replace well. Nextcloud plus Collabora is the mature answer, and it is still a step down in feel.
You lose: Conflict-free editing, comments that behave, and the universal 'anyone can open it' link.
Start here
Nextcloud Office
Works, looks older, and needs a document server with memory to spare.
github.com/CollaboraOnline/onlinecollaboraonline.com
A database, object storage or mail config, plus backups.
Also worth a look
- CryptPad
End-to-end encrypted and genuinely nice. Fewer features, no file formats.
- ONLYOFFICE
Best Office-format fidelity. The community edition has limits worth reading.
github.com/ONLYOFFICE/DocumentServerwww.onlyoffice.com/see-it-in-action
What the desk has written
Facts checked 8 November 2026. Licences, activity and archive status come from each project's own repository; the verdict and the cost lines are the desk's.