For a while, I was an avid LibreOffice user because I wanted a break from Microsoft Office. I’ve also been using OnlyOffice for most of my work, but as collaboration and cloud features become increasingly important, neither option looks particularly attractive anymore. LibreOffice, in particular, feels somewhat outdated in these areas. That’s why I now recommend Collabora for people with modest office suite needs.
Here’s what makes Collabora great — it’s built on the foundation of LibreOffice. It takes the open-source concept further by offering various solutions, including self-hosted and cloud-ready options. While it lacks some of the advanced features that LibreOffice provides, it’s well-suited for individuals who want cloud features and small teams looking to collaborate without breaking the bank.
Collabora offers a great self-hosted productivity suite for free users
A powerful office suite for modest users
When you look into Collabora, you’ll see that its main product is Collabora Online. This is a self-hosted enterprise solution that comes with commercial support, performance stability, security assurances, and other features that make it suitable for production-ready environments — at a cost, though. For non-enterprise users, there’s a completely free and self-hosted alternative without those features called Collabora Online Development Edition (CODE).
While CODE is meant for testing, it’s recommended for home users and small teams. It should not be used in production-ready environments because it’s a rolling release. It receives updates roughly once a month; users get early access to features, but the release is less stable. Regardless, it offers powerful document editing tools that can be deployed on your server.
CODE includes familiar applications like Writer for documents, Calc for spreadsheets, and Impress for presentations. So you have all the core functionality you need from traditional office software. You also have all the collaborative features of Collabora Online, without paying for the enterprise version or relying on a proprietary solution like Google Docs.
CODE wasn’t that hard to set up at home
Other open-source tools came to the rescue
There are various ways to self-host CODE on your server. What works for me is pairing it with Nextcloud for cloud features such as file storage and user access control. I use Docker for both Nextcloud and CODE.
These underrated Nextcloud features will make you question paying for Google Workspace
Google Workspace locks features that you can use for free on other services behind a paywall.
I ran the command below to pull the Nextcloud image and run the container:
sudo docker run -d --name nextcloud \\
-v nextcloud_data:/var/www/html -p 8080:80 \\
--restart always nextcloud:latest
I also had to enable sudo on my Windows 11 PC by going to Settings -> Advanced and toggling on Enable sudo.
Below is the command for pulling the CODE image and running the container.
docker run -t -d -p 9980:9980 \\
-e "extra_params=--o:ssl.enable=false --o:user_interface.use_integration_theme=false" \\
--name collabora_online --restart always collabora/code
After ensuring Nextcloud Office and CODE are installed and enabled in Nextcloud, I went to the Nextcloud Office settings and entered the URL and port of the CODE server. From there, I could view and edit documents directly within Nextcloud from any browser, including a mobile one.
You can also get the offline apps
Available on both desktop and mobile
For those who prefer working offline, there’s a desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux called Collabora Office. It packages the core features of LibreOffice (though not all of them) with an improved interface. If there’s one thing that deters many people from LibreOffice, it’s the interface. While Collabora Office is designed for offline use, you can still sync files to Nextcloud or your personal OneDrive, for instance, to access them later.
Collabora Office also has a mobile app for Android and iOS — LibreOffice only has a third-party viewer app for Android. The mobile app is not as smooth as using Collabora in Nextcloud or on a desktop, but it allows you to make quick edits on the go.
You can also access your Collabora documents through the Nextcloud mobile app. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to set this up because it requires your Nextcloud instance to be accessible via the secure HTTPS protocol. Setting this up isn’t straightforward and is currently beyond my technical expertise. However, it does demonstrate that there are flexible options for accessing your Collabora documents, whether locally or over the internet.
Macro support is limited in Collabora
Macro users still need LibreOffice to some extent
While LibreOffice remains a more advanced productivity suite than Collabora, despite their shared foundation, Collabora has a notable limitation: it doesn’t support macro editing. Macros are essential for advanced users with complex workflows, but average users, like small teams, and I may not find them necessary in most cases. As long as we can write documents, manage spreadsheets, and create presentations, we have what we need.
I thought Excel macros were overkill until I built this one
I was wrong about macros!
Collabora doesn’t bring the complexity of scripting with it. This can be considered a benefit in some scenarios — fewer security risks and less chance of breaking compatibility when sharing files. For everyday use cases, writing reports, tracking expenses, or planning events, Collabora delivers everything you need without unnecessary complications.
While you can’t edit macros, you can run them in Collabora Online. Just keep in mind that you can only run VBA macros. The functionality is disabled by default, so you’ll need to navigate to /etc/coolwsd/coolwsd.xml in the CODE Docker container and enable it. Here is the line you need to change:
<enable_macros_execution desc="..." type="bool" default="false">true</enable_macros_execution>
I changed the text between the opening and closing tag from false to true. Afterward, you can write and test your macros in LibreOffice. Once you’re satisfied, import them into CODE and run them — click File -> Run Macro.
Collabora is suitable for most use cases
When you look at the bigger picture, Collabora strikes a balance between modern collaboration and traditional offline editing. It’s flexible enough to run on your own server, integrates smoothly with Nextcloud, and offers apps across desktop and mobile platforms. While it lacks advanced features like macro editing, that’s rarely a dealbreaker for the audiences it serves — single users, home offices, and small teams.
