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Overleaf

Overleaf, formerly WriteLaTeX, is a self-hosted collaborative writing and publishing system.

  • Productivity
Overleaf, formerly WriteLaTeX, is a self-hosted collaborative writing and publishing system. It provides a LaTeX editor, allowing authors to work together on academic papers. This makes the whole process of producing academic papers much quicker for both authors and publishers.

Platform availability

Available on 1 of 9 platforms

  • Unraid
  • TrueNAS (not listed)
  • Umbrel (not listed)
  • ZimaOS (not listed)
  • Proxmox (not listed)
  • Helm (not listed)
  • Mac (not listed)
  • Windows (not listed)
  • Linux (not listed)

Health score?A 0-100 score computed nightly from four factors: maintained (40%: recent commits and steady activity), popular (25%: GitHub stars, log scale), easy to install (20%: platforms, install notes, setup guides, Docker image) and light to run (15%: minimum RAM, ARM support). When the source code has been checked, a fifth factor, security check (20%: automated scan for committed secrets, unsafe desktop-app settings, known-vulnerable dependencies and project hygiene; any serious finding caps it at 20), is added. Factors without data are left out and the rest are rescaled.

73/100 Good

Maintained
100last commit 28 days ago
Popular
8518,212 GitHub stars
Easy to install
351 install platform, install notes, Docker image
Light to run
303 GB minimum RAM

Availability: platform listings confirmed today, links checked 17 days ago

GitHub stars
18,212
Open issues
173
Last commit
2026-09-17
Latest release
v0.1.3
License
AGPL-3.0
Activity
stale

Checked 9 days ago - source: GitHub (overleaf/overleaf)

Resources & Compatibility

Minimum requirements: 3 GB RAM, 2 CPU core(s). ARM (e.g. Raspberry Pi) is not supported.

Checked 17 days ago - source: Docker Hub image tags and published docs

First-install notes

  • Create the first admin account After the services are up, open http://localhost/launchpad and create the initial admin account; without it you have no one to log in as for Overleaf. source
  • Start the support containers first Start the MongoDB (database) and Redis (fast memory cache) containers before the main sharelatex container, because Overleaf won't start reliably if its core support services are not running. source
  • Install full LaTeX packages if needed If a document fails to compile because of missing LaTeX packages, run docker exec sharelatex tlmgr install scheme-full to add the full TeXLive set to the main Overleaf container. source
  • Security Deploy Community Edition only where all users are trusted; user isolation and sandboxed compiles are unavailable. source

Fetched 7 days ago - each note links to its source

Alternatives (6)

  • Kile - Kile is a user-friendly TeX/LaTeX editor by KDE.
  • LyX - LyX is a document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents (WYSIWYM) and not simply their…
  • Oleafly - Free, open-source scientific writing workspace for LaTeX, Typst, and Markdown with desktop performance, local AI-assisted editing, Git vers…
  • OpenAI Prism - A free, LaTeX-native workspace that integrates GPT-5.2 directly into scientific writing and collaboration.
  • TeXstudio - TeXstudio is an integrated environment for writing LaTeX documents.
  • Texmaker - Texmaker is a free LaTeX editor, that integrates many tools needed to develop documents with LaTeX, in just one application.

Checked 14 days ago - source: AlternativeTo

Common questions

What must I do after the Overleaf services are running so I can log in?

Open the local launchpad page and create the initial admin account; without it there is nobody to log in as.

In what order should I start the Overleaf containers?

Start the MongoDB and Redis containers before the main sharelatex container, because Overleaf won't start reliably if those core support services are not running.

How can I fix compilation failures caused by missing LaTeX packages?

Run docker exec sharelatex tlmgr install scheme-full to add the full TeXLive set to the main Overleaf container.

Is Community Edition suitable for untrusted users?

No, it is intended for environments where all users are trusted because Sandbox Compiles are not available; without sandboxed compiles, users have full read and write access to the sharelatex container resources during LaTeX compiles.

Which Overleaf offering includes SSO?

Overleaf Server Pro includes SSO with LDAP or SAML.

Answers sourced from github.com, github.com, github.com, github.com

Community

Collected 10 days ago - public community threads