Best Self-Hosted Collaboration & Communication Tools in 2026
Tools for team collaboration, project communication, and file sharing across remote and hybrid teams.
The top-rated pick is Excalidraw with 126,243 GitHub stars.
22 self-hosted collaboration & communication tools — ranked by GitHub stars. Browse all
Excalidraw
Open-source virtual whiteboard for creating hand-drawn style diagrams and sketches.
Plane
Open-source project management platform — an alternative to Jira, Linear, Monday, and ClickUp.
Jira
Mastodon
Decentralized social network server that federates with the broader Fediverse — run your own instance instead of relying on Twitter/X.
Cal.com
Open-source scheduling infrastructure — a self-hostable alternative to Calendly for booking meetings and appointments.
Nextcloud
The most popular self-hosted cloud platform for file storage, collaboration, and communication.
Jitsi Meet
Open-source video conferencing platform — free, secure, and self-hostable.
Google Meet
Focalboard
Open-source, self-hosted project management tool — a free alternative to Trello, Notion, and Asana.
Trello
Navidrome
Modern, lightweight self-hosted music server compatible with Subsonic/Airsonic clients — stream your music everywhere.
WeKan
Open-source kanban board built with Meteor — a free and self-hosted alternative to Trello.
Trello
Etherpad
Open-source real-time collaborative text editor you can self-host.
Google Docs
OpenProject
Open-source project management software — an alternative to Jira, Asana, Trello, and Monday.com.
Jira
PeerTube
Federated, decentralized video hosting platform built on ActivityPub.
YouTube
Lemmy
Federated link aggregator and community discussion platform — a decentralized, self-hostable alternative to Reddit.
Formbricks
Open-source survey and experience management platform for product and customer research.
Google Forms
Owncast
Self-hosted live video streaming server with built-in chat and Fediverse integration.
YouTube
BigBlueButton
Open-source virtual classroom platform built for online education and webinars.
Google Meet
CryptPad
End-to-end encrypted collaborative office suite with zero-knowledge privacy.
Google Docs
ONLYOFFICE
Self-hosted office suite with real-time collaboration.
Google Docs
Collabora Online
Open-source LibreOffice-powered collaborative office suite for self-hosted environments.
Google Docs
Matcha
A beautiful terminal email client built with Go and Bubble Tea. An open source alternative to Superhuman and Outlook for the command line.
Microsoft Outlook
Element Call
End-to-end encrypted group video calling built on the Matrix open protocol.
Google Meet
4gaBoards
Straightforward realtime kanban boards for intuitive task tracking with dark mode and collaborative features.
TrelloWhy self-host?
Self-hosting puts you in control. You own your data, avoid vendor lock-in, and eliminate recurring subscription costs. For teams handling sensitive data or operating under strict compliance requirements, running your own infrastructure is often the only viable option.