I’ve been using cryptpad.fr (the “flagship instance” of CryptPad) for years. It’s…fine. Really, it’s fine. I’m not thrilled with the experience, but it is functional and I’m not aware of any viable alternatives that are end-to-end encrypted.

It’s based on OnlyOffice, which is basically a heavyweight web-first Microsoft Office clone. Set your expectations accordingly.

No mobile apps, and the web UI is not optimized for mobile. I mean, it works, but does using the desktop MS Office UI on a smartphone sound like fun to you?

Performance is tolerable but if you’re used to Google Sheets, it’s a big downgrade. Some of this is just the necessary overhead involved in an end-to-end encrypted cloud service. Some of it is because, again, this is a heavyweight desktop UI running in a web browser. It’s functional, but it’s not fast and it’s not pretty.

I’ve been reading a lot of Soatok’s blog, so when I see software that claims to be privacy-oriented, my first thought is: secure against what?

And in a refreshing change of pace, CryptPad actually outlines their threat model and how the software features might widen certain threats plus how to avoid those pitfalls. I’m not a security expert, but it’s clear they paid at least some attention to assuring privacy, rather than just paying it lip-service. So we’re off to a good start.

Am I understanding the pricing correctly that selfhosting it would cost me 1500€ in licensing fees per year?

Nevermind, got it now. It was just presented confusingly.

The free tier is for free cloud use AND also for selfhosting.

The paid selfhosting tier is for professional support.