Draft:CryptPad

  • Comment: it's not quite ready to accept yet, mostly due to sourcing concerns. Several of the references don't meet reliability or independence standards basiclly to say the Wire and It's FOSS pieces are interviews or comparisons rather than substantial independent coverage, Make Tech Easier is generally considered a weaker source for notability purposes, and the XDA Developers piece is framed around opinion rather than factual reporting. The Association for Progressive Communications source is useful but is a single piece carrying a lot of the article's weight across eight footnotes. To confidently establish notability under WP:GNG, the draft would benefit from a couple more strong, independent sources covering CryptPad directly, such as pieces from established tech outlets like Wired, Ars Technica, or The Register. The institutional adoption details are compelling and worth keeping, but ideally those claims would be verified through third-party reporting rather than inferred from the interview. Add some more sources to establish notability. Plus it reads like it was written by AI, so verify everything for hallucinations once.Resubmit after fixing these things. Flyingphoenixchips (talk) 04:48, 11 May 2026 (UTC)


CryptPad
DeveloperXWiki SAS
Initial release2017 (2017)
Operating systemCross-platform (web-based)
TypeOffice suite, Collaborative software
Websitecryptpad.fr

CryptPad is a free and open-source, end-to-end encrypted collaborative office suite developed by the French company XWiki SAS. Launched in 2017, it includes applications for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, kanban boards, forms, and whiteboards. All content is encrypted in the user's browser before reaching the server, so the service provider cannot read it. CryptPad is used by civil society organisations, public institutions, and individuals seeking a privacy-focused alternative to services such as Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.

Background and development

CryptPad was launched in 2017 by XWiki SAS, a company headquartered in Paris with roots in open-source software development going back over 20 years.[1] XWiki describes its mission as part of Europe's digital sovereignty movement, with a stated goal of building and promoting European open-source solutions as an alternative to products from major US technology companies.

The project has received grants from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative, through the NGI0 consortium led by the NLnet Foundation. Funding from NGI Assure, NGI0 Pet, and NGI0 Entrust between 2019 and 2024 supported work on security, accessibility, and cryptographic infrastructure.[2] Further funding has come from French public investment bank BPI France, the NGI Trust programme, and Mozilla Open Source Support, as well as subscriptions to CryptPad.fr and community donations.[3]

In January 2022, the European Commission's Open Source Programme Office (EC OSPO) included CryptPad in a bug bounty programme alongside LibreOffice, Mastodon, Odoo, and LEOS. The programme was funded with €200,000 and offered awards of up to €5,000 for security vulnerabilities found in open-source software used by European public services, with a 20% bonus for fixes supplied alongside the report.[4]

Privacy and security

Zero-knowledge architecture

All data in CryptPad is encrypted in the user's browser before being sent to or stored on the server. Server operators, including XWiki SAS on the CryptPad.fr instance, have no technical means to read user content.[5][3] Because of this, account password recovery is not possible; users are warned when creating an account to keep their credentials in a safe place.[6]

According to the project's documentation, the service collects only the user's IP address and basic telemetry such as screen size and which buttons are used. Email addresses and passwords are not stored on the server; a unique cryptographic key is generated for each user instead.[7]

Anonymous access

Registering an account does not require an email address.[5] Users can also use the platform without creating an account, though documents made without one are deleted after 90 days.[8][3] Documents can be public or private, with access permissions set before sharing. Documents can also be embedded in external websites using an HTML iframe.[9]

Document access controls

When sharing a document, the owner can grant view-only, presentation, or editing access. CryptPad also supports self-destructing links: once a recipient closes such a document, they cannot reopen it without a new link from the owner. Documents can be given a password as an additional layer of protection, and an automatic expiration date can be set at the time of creation, though this date cannot be changed later.[6]

Content moderation and terms of service

Because server operators cannot read stored content, moderation requires different approaches than on conventional platforms. XWiki SAS maintains a code of conduct and terms of service for CryptPad.fr covering prohibited content. These terms have been updated following user feedback, including revisions to clarify what types of creative content are permitted on the service.[2]

Digital sovereignty and European context

XWiki SAS presents both XWiki and CryptPad as part of Europe's digital sovereignty movement, positioning them as European open-source alternatives to US-based cloud platforms.[1]

Known institutional users include the European Parliament, the United Nations, Amnesty International Germany, and the city of Nuremberg. CryptPad handles roughly two million documents per month.[1] The EU Commission is also reported to use CryptPad.[2] Recent European regulatory changes have made certain US cloud products technically non-compliant for use in public administration and education, though in practice many organisations have not fully shifted to compliant alternatives.[2]

CryptPad is one of eight open-source tools included in the OpenDesk project, a German public administration initiative building a fully open-source alternative to Microsoft Office 365. The other tools include Nextcloud, Collabora Office, Element, and OpenProject.[1]

XWiki also points to Eurostack as an example of European countries and developers pooling resources to build integrated open-source alternatives to global platforms.[1]

Applications and features

CryptPad includes nine application types:[6]

  • Sheet — spreadsheets
  • Document — text documents
  • Presentation — slide decks
  • Rich Text — rich text editing
  • Kanban — visual project management boards
  • Code — code and Markdown editing
  • Form — surveys and data collection
  • Diagram — diagrams and flowcharts
  • Markdown Slides — presentation slides written in Markdown

All applications support real-time collaboration, with multiple users able to edit the same document at the same time.[6] A built-in calendar is available, as is encrypted chat between individuals and within teams.[6]

Teams and collaboration

Users can belong to up to five teams at once. Each team has its own shared drive, member list, and chat channel. Document access can be restricted to specific individuals or team members, with separate view, edit, and other permission levels.[6]

Deployment

Hosted instance

XWiki SAS operates the main hosted instance at CryptPad.fr in France. A free registered account includes 1 GB of encrypted storage.[5] Paid plans range from €5 to €15 per month and offer between 5 GB and 50 GB of storage, priority technical support, and a per-file upload limit of 150 MB.[7][3] Plans can be paid monthly or annually.[7] A separate plan for non-profit organisations is available for civil society groups, journalists, and human rights defenders.[2]

Self-hosting

CryptPad can be self-hosted, giving operators full control over their data and infrastructure. The CryptPad project maintains a list of verified third-party instances for users who prefer not to use the official instance. Official documentation for self-hosted deployment is published by the project.[10][6]

Relationship to Nextcloud

CryptPad is often compared to Nextcloud, another open-source, self-hostable collaboration platform. Nextcloud has a broader feature set, including audio/video calls and groupware that bundles calendars, contacts, mail, and task management. It encrypts data in transit using TLS, with optional server-side or end-to-end encryption. CryptPad is more narrowly focused on document collaboration but encrypts all content end-to-end by default, without requiring additional configuration.[5]

Accessibility

The CryptPad team has acknowledged significant accessibility shortcomings in the software. Because all encryption and decryption runs on the user's device, performance is tied to device capability and connection quality. The team has noted that the platform is very difficult to use on a smartphone.[2] Accessibility work has been carried out as part of NGI-funded development, and a part-time accessibility specialist joined the team after an internship.[2]

Reception

Technology publications have rated CryptPad as one of the stronger privacy-focused alternatives to Google Workspace, citing the breadth of its application suite and the consistency of its encryption model.[10][8] Reviewers have found the interface less polished than Google Docs or similar commercial tools, and have noted weak mobile support.[8] The interface has been compared to Microsoft Office Online rather than Google Docs.[9]

Developers at XWiki have described a gap in the market: end-to-end encrypted tools for messaging (such as Signal) and for file storage (such as Proton Drive) are relatively common, but few products combine end-to-end encryption with real-time collaborative document editing.[2]

In enterprise settings, CryptPad has generally been used alongside existing platforms such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 rather than replacing them, often for documents requiring higher confidentiality. XWiki has noted that fully displacing established platforms in enterprise environments has been difficult.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Open Source and Digital Sovereignty: An Interview with XWiki". Wire.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "CryptPad: How it Balances Accessibility and Privacy for Secure Digital Collaboration". Association for Progressive Communications. 17 July 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d "La suite colaborativa CryptoPad: alternativa parcial a Google Workspaces" (in Spanish). Linuxadictos. 8 November 2021.
  4. ^ "European Commission's Open Source Programme Office Starts Bug Bounties". European Commission. 19 January 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d "Nextcloud vs CryptPad". It's FOSS. 5 August 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Collaborate on Documents with CryptPad". Make Tech Easier.
  7. ^ a b c "CryptPad, un Google Drive para crear, editar y almacenar documentos con mayor seguridad" (in Spanish). Hipertextual. 29 August 2020.
  8. ^ a b c "The Best AI-Free, Encrypted Alternatives to Google Docs". Lifehacker. 13 February 2025.
  9. ^ a b "CryptPad: alternativa a Google Docs open source y cifrada" (in Spanish). Genbeta. 10 September 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Reasons CryptPad is the Best Privacy-Focused Alternative to Google". XDA Developers. 23 March 2025.

Category:Free software Category:Open-source software Category:Collaborative software Category:Office suites Category:End-to-end encryption Category:Privacy software

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