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CryptPad

In-depth review

Free

End-to-end encrypted office suite — docs, spreadsheets, kanban, code pads. No account needed for guest use. Hosted in France, GDPR-native. The privacy-first Google Docs alternative.

Catalogued April 15, 2026 · Curated by PWA Directory team

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🔐CryptPad

cryptpad.fr

CryptPad, as it opens in a browser tab.

Online Only

Installable

Cross-Platform

✓

Free

Not sure how to add CryptPad to your home screen? Step-by-step for Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge — it takes about ten seconds, and there is no app store involved.

Own CryptPad? Have us re-run this measurement — we open it in a real browser, cut the network, and send you what survived.

How to install CryptPad as a PWA

Chrome / Edge

Menu (⋮) → Add to Home screen

Safari (iOS)

Share (↑) → Add to Home Screen

Firefox

Menu (⋮) → Install

Screenshots

Why we recommend CryptPad

There is no separate CryptPad mobile or Android app: cryptpad.fr installs directly from Chrome or Safari as a Progressive Web App on Android and iOS, so 'installing' means adding the site to your home screen, not downloading anything from Google Play or the App Store. CryptPad is the only mainstream office suite where the server cannot read your documents. End-to-end encryption isn't a privacy-policy promise — it's enforced cryptographically: keys are derived in your browser, the server stores ciphertext, and even the CryptPad team running cryptpad.fr cannot decrypt your content. That makes it a serious option for journalists, lawyers, French public-sector teams (it's hosted in France, GDPR-native, used by some ministerial workgroups), and anyone whose threat model includes the document host. Compared to Google Docs or Office 365, you trade some polish (formatting features are good but not 1:1 with Word) for a guarantee no big-tech vendor can match. The toolset covers what most teams need daily: rich-text Pad, Sheet (CSV-compatible), Kanban, Code (with syntax highlighting), Slide, Whiteboard, and Forms. Real-time collaboration works without an account — you share an URL with the encryption key in the fragment, recipients edit instantly. For sensitive enterprise use, self-host the server (Docker setup is well-documented) and you keep everything inside your own infrastructure.

Best use cases

Best for: encrypted meeting notes between lawyers and clients, GDPR-strict EU teams replacing Google Workspace, classroom collaboration where students don't have accounts, fast secure brainstorming sessions (drop a Whiteboard URL into Signal, done), and local government/healthcare projects requiring EU data residency. The no-account workflow is uniquely good for one-off shared documents — no signup friction at all.

Honest limitations

Not for: heavy spreadsheet users who need real Excel formula compatibility (Sheet covers basics, not power-user pivot tables). Not for: teams needing comment threads with @mentions and approvals — the workflow features lag behind Google Docs. Performance on documents over ~50 pages can stutter on older devices because all encryption/decryption happens in-browser. Free-tier storage on cryptpad.fr is capped (1GB); heavy use means self-hosting or paying for a managed instance.

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CryptPad in our guides

Productivity PWAs: Office, Notes and Collaboration ToolsONLYOFFICE DocSpace and CryptPad are this category's two free, installable office suites, covering Microsoft formats and encrypted collaboration. Neither works offline, so both need a live connection to open, edit and sync documents. DocSpace fits teams exchanging DOCX, XLSX and PPTX files with outside partners since formulas, macros and track-changes survive the round trip; CryptPad fits privacy-sensitive work that needs no account and no server-side visibility into content. Both install straight from the browser.Read the answer →

Note apps that install from the browserNotesnook and AppFlowy both aim at the Notion shape with end-to-end encryption, and both keep working with no connection once installed. Anytype and AFFiNE go further into local-first storage, where your notes live on your device by default rather than on someone's server. CryptPad handles collaborative documents the server itself cannot read. All install from the browser with nothing to download.Read the answer →

Does Paper Critters work offline?Yes. The Paper Critters studio keeps working with no connection once it has loaded, and it installs from the browser like a desktop program. You can decorate a critter on a train, in a car or anywhere with no signal; the only step that needs anything beyond the browser is the printer at the end.Read the answer →

PWA examples: 578 tested, 243 kept working with the network offOf the 578 installable web apps catalogued here, 243 keep working with the network disconnected — 42%. The rest install, show an icon, open in their own window, and then show nothing useful offline. So a PWA example is only an example of the format; whether it delivers the format's defining promise is a separate question, and it has to be tested app by app. The 243 that pass span every category: development tools, utilities, games, productivity, education.Read the answer →

Your PWA does not work on iPhoneFour iOS-specific behaviours explain almost every case. There is no automatic install prompt — the user must use Share then Add to Home Screen, and nothing on the page can trigger it. Every browser on iOS uses Safari's engine, so "try Chrome instead" changes nothing. The installed app gets its own storage, separate from Safari, so a session created in the browser does not exist inside the icon. And push notifications require iOS 16.4 or later and only work once the app is on the Home Screen.Read the answer →

Your PWA does not load at allFirst separate two symptoms, because they have nothing in common. If the window opens and stays white, the service worker answered with nothing — that is a caching problem. If the app does not open at all, or the icon launches and closes, the entry point itself is unreachable: `start_url` returns an error, redirects somewhere the app cannot render, or falls outside `scope`. Open `start_url` directly in a private window; if it does not render there, it will not render in the installed app either.Read the answer →

Your PWA opens to a blank screenA PWA that opens to a blank screen is nearly always a service worker that answers the request but has nothing to answer with. The four causes, in the order we actually encounter them: the worker is registered but its cache is empty; the app shell is cached but the data it needs is not; the cache holds files from a previous deploy that no longer exist; or the manifest points somewhere that does not load. Open devtools → Application → Service Workers, tick Offline, and reload — the cause is visible in under a minute.Read the answer →

Your update never reaches installed usersTwo separate things cause this. The everyday one: a service worker only takes control on the next navigation, so a user with the app open keeps the old version until they fully close and reopen it — and if you never call `skipWaiting`, the new worker waits indefinitely. The permanent one: changing `start_url` without a pinned `id` makes the browser treat your app as a different app, so everyone who already installed keeps the old one forever and silently stops receiving anything.Read the answer →

Are PWAs still relevant?Yes, but far less than the advocacy suggests. We opened 386 installable web apps in a real browser and cut the network: 151 kept working, 235 showed nothing. So the defining promise of the format — it works without a connection — holds for 39% of the apps that claim it. PWAs are relevant where someone did the work; the format is not the guarantee people assume it is.Read the answer →

Do PWAs actually work offline?Some do, most do not. Installability and offline capability are separate: a browser offers to install an app based on its manifest and the presence of a service worker, not on whether that worker caches anything useful. Of 386 installable web apps we opened with the network cut on 12 August 2026, 151 kept working and 235 showed nothing. So when an app says it is a PWA, that tells you it can be installed — it does not tell you it will run on a plane.Read the answer →

Why is my PWA not installable?Because one of Chrome's installability conditions is unmet, and it never says so unless you look. The list: HTTPS, a linked manifest, a name, icons at 192px and 512px, `display` set to standalone/fullscreen/minimal-ui, `start_url` inside `scope`, and a service worker with a fetch handler. Devtools → Application → Manifest → Installability names the failing one directly. The most common causes we see are a missing 512px icon and a service worker with no fetch handler.Read the answer →

Does Excalidraw work offline?Yes. Excalidraw runs entirely in your browser, and once the page has loaded once it keeps working with no connection at all. [Install it as an app](/blog/how-to-install-a-pwa) from Chrome, Edge or Safari and it opens like any desktop program — offline included. Your drawings are saved in the browser's local storage on your own device, not on a server. The only features that need a connection are live collaboration and shareable links.Read the answer →

Is Excalidraw free — including for commercial work?Yes, on both counts. Excalidraw is open source under the MIT licence, which explicitly permits commercial use: you can use it at work, in client deliverables, and in a commercial product without paying or asking. The [free version](/directory/excalidraw) has no feature lock and no watermark. Excalidraw+ is a separate paid, hosted product for teams that want persistent workspaces and managed collaboration — it is an addition, not an unlock.Read the answer →

How to send large files without uploading them anywhereYou don't need a cloud account to send a large file — and you don't need to trust anyone with its contents. Tools like [Wormhole](/directory/wormhole) encrypt the file in your browser before anything is transmitted, and put the decryption key in the part of the link after the # symbol, which browsers never send to the server. The service therefore stores a blob it cannot open. Files up to 10 GB work, nothing is installed, and the transfer expires by itself after 24 hours.Read the answer →

Similar to CryptPad

Notesnook

End-to-end encrypted note-taking app. Zero-knowledge sync across devices. Open-source and audited. The Evernote/Notion alternative that genuinely can't read your notes. Notes are encrypted on the device before they ever sync, so the server stores ciphertext it cannot open.

Proton Mail

End-to-end encrypted email from Switzerland. Zero access to your messages — even Proton can't read them. Open-source, audited, used by journalists and activists worldwide. Messages between Proton accounts are encrypted end to end automatically, without either side configuring anything.

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Wormhole

Share files up to 10GB with end-to-end encryption. Files are never stored permanently — they vanish after download or 24 hours. No account, no tracking. Faster than WeTransfer.

Emberclear

End-to-end encrypted multi-device chat built on the Nostr protocol. Messages only decrypt on your device. Open-source, no server-side data, fully auditable. Keys never leave the browser, which means losing the device means losing the history — by design.

ONLYOFFICE DocSpace

Open-source office suite with pixel-perfect DOCX/XLSX/PPTX compatibility. Self-hostable or cloud. The best free replacement for Google Docs when you need perfect Microsoft format support. Formulas, macros and track-changes survive a round trip through Office, which is where most alternatives break.

Threema Web

Browser companion for Threema — the privacy-focused messenger that doesn't require a phone number or email. Uses end-to-end encryption for all messages. Popular in Europe.

See all Productivity PWAs →

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