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Open source groupware

Groupware puts a team's calendars, contacts, mail and shared files on one server, the job Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace does in the cloud. The 20 tools here vary widely in scope, so match the suite to your team. Nextcloud is the broadest and the most-starred, with over 37,000 GitHub stars: files, calendars, contacts and mail with an app catalogue, under AGPL-3.0. For mail and calendars that work with the clients people already use, SOGo speaks CalDAV, CardDAV and ActiveSync, with native Outlook compatibility. EGroupware and Group Office bundle groupware with CRM and project tools, and Tine builds add-ons around its groupware, for companies that want one system. Sync-in focuses on file storage and real-time editing, with desktop and command-line clients and a Docker image. Six of the tools, Digipad and Digistorm among them, are made for teaching and documented in French. Citadel and Zimbra Collaboration are listed, but we have no repository metrics for them. Whichever you choose, mail delivery, backups and updates become your job.

updated Oct 2026 20 tools ★ 66k stars 5 with Docker median 74

Best for…

  • Most starred

    Nextcloud

    37,351 stars on GitHub, the largest community in the category.

  • Most active

    egroupware

    2,049 commits in the last 90 days, the fastest-moving codebase here.

  • Most permissive

    Openmeetings

    Apache-2.0 licence with health 81/100: the strongest option if you need to embed or fork commercially.

Ranked by health

Table view

How the groupware tools compare

Collaborative software or groupware is designed to help people working on a common task to attain their goals. Groupware often regroups multiple services such as file sharing, calendar/events management, appointment scheduling, address books... in a single, integrated application. 20 self-hosted groupware tools are listed here, ordered purely by a repository health score that Repoly recomputes nightly. Sync-in leads at 93/100 with 270 commits in the last 90 days and 1.9k stars, followed by Nextcloud (88) and Tine (85). 14 of the 20 score 70 or above, 5 publish a Docker image, and the median health is 74. AGPL-3.0 is the most common licence, carried by 12 of them. Between them they stand in for Notion, Slack, Dropbox, Basecamp and Google Drive and 3 more proprietary products.

Sync-in edges Nextcloud 93 to 88, and most of the difference is Docker support: a Docker image against no Docker image. Nextcloud is the busier codebase, though, with 2,445 commits in 90 days to 270. Nextcloud has the largest following at 37k stars, yet ranks #2 of 20, held back mostly by Docker support (no Docker image).

The most recent release is Tine 2025.11.17, published yesterday. Seafile scores under 40, so check recent activity before adopting it. By stack, Nodejs (7), PHP (5) and C (2) are the most common. Openmeetings, Colanode, Tracim and 1 more are permissively licensed; Sync-in, Nextcloud, Tine and 13 more are copyleft. Citadel and Zimbra Collaboration are not hosted on a forge Repoly can read, so they have no measured score yet.

Groupware tools by health, stars, last commit, licence, self-hosting and what each is best for
Tool Health Stars Last commit Licence Self-hosting Best for
Sync-in 93 1.9k yesterday AGPL-3.0 Docker image Long-term use: health 93/100
Nextcloud 88 37k today AGPL-3.0 Manual (PHP) Community size: 37k stars
Tine 85 22 today AGPL-3.0 Docker image Fresh releases: 2025.11.17, yesterday
SOGo 83 2.2k 3 days ago LGPL-2.1 Manual (Objective-C) Objective-C teams: the only Objective-C option here
Cozy Cloud 82 1.3k yesterday GPL-3.0 Manual (Nodejs) Nodejs teams: health 82/100
bewCloud 81 1.2k 12 days ago AGPL-3.0 Docker image Quick setup: ships a Docker image
Openmeetings 81 688 4 days ago Apache-2.0 Manual (Java) Commercial reuse: Apache-2.0 licence
egroupware 80 301 today GPL-2.0 Manual (PHP) Fast development: 2,049 commits in 90 days
Group Office 80 284 today AGPL-3.0 Manual (PHP) PHP teams: health 80/100
Digipad 74 7 8 days ago AGPL-3.0 Manual (Nodejs) Nodejs teams: health 74/100
Digistorm 74 7 18 days ago AGPL-3.0 Manual (Nodejs) Nodejs teams: health 74/100
Digibuzzer 72 3 6 days ago AGPL-3.0 Manual (Nodejs) Nodejs teams: health 72/100
Digiscreen 72 3 10 days ago AGPL-3.0 Manual (Nodejs) Nodejs teams: health 72/100
Digiwall 70 0 8 days ago AGPL-3.0 Manual (Nodejs) Nodejs teams: health 70/100
Colanode 58 5.2k 7 months ago Apache-2.0 Docker image Docker users: health 58/100
Tracim 57 274 yesterday AGPL-3.0 Manual (Python) Python teams: the only Python option here
Digitools 44 1 19 days ago AGPL-3.0 Manual (PHP) PHP teams: health 44/100
Seafile 36 15k 14 days ago GPL-2.0 Manual (C) Check activity first: health 36/100
Citadel 20 0 unknown GPL-3.0 Docker image Not measured: hosted where we cannot read it
Zimbra Collaboration 10 0 unknown GPL-2.0 Manual (Java) Not measured: hosted where we cannot read it

How to choose groupware software

  • Want the project most likely to keep shipping? Start with Sync-in: health 93/100 and 270 commits in the last 90 days.
  • Building it into a commercial product? Sync-in is AGPL-3.0; Openmeetings (Apache-2.0, health 81) lets you modify and ship it without publishing your changes.
  • Want the quickest install? Sync-in, Tine, bewCloud and 1 more ship a Docker image; the others install by hand on their own stack.
  • Planning to patch or extend it? Match your stack: Nodejs (Sync-in, Cozy Cloud and 5 more), PHP (Nextcloud, egroupware and 3 more), C (Seafile).
  • Citadel and Zimbra Collaboration have no score because their code is not on a forge we read, so judge them on the project's own site.
  • The score measures maintenance, not features: shortlist two and try them with your own data before you migrate.

Groupware: common questions

Is there open source groupware software on GitHub?

Yes. 12 of the 20 groupware tools we track are on GitHub, led by Sync-in (github.com/Sync-in/server, health 93/100, 1.9k stars) and Nextcloud (github.com/nextcloud/server, health 88/100). Digipad, Digistorm, Digibuzzer and 3 more are developed on Codeberg instead. Citadel and Zimbra Collaboration have no repository on a forge we read. Each tool page links its repository and shows the health score we recompute from it every night.

What is the best open source groupware tool?

By Repoly's GitHub health score, Sync-in at 93/100 (270 commits in 90 days, v2.6.1 from 5 days ago). Nextcloud is next at 88; Sync-in's lead comes mostly from Docker support. The score measures maintenance, not features, so shortlist the top few and try them.

Which groupware tools are the most actively developed?

Nextcloud (2,445 commits in 90 days), egroupware (2,049 commits in 90 days) and Tine (1,115 commits in 90 days). Commit activity is 35 of the 100 health points, the largest single term.

Which groupware tools can I run in Docker?

5 of 20 publish a Docker image or Compose file, led by Sync-in, Tine, bewCloud, Colanode and Citadel.

Which groupware tools have a permissive licence?

4 of 20: Openmeetings (Apache-2.0), Colanode (Apache-2.0), Tracim (AGPL-3.0), Seafile (GPL-2.0). 16 are copyleft.

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