Better Rich Text Buy licence

The CKEditor alternative with collaboration in the box.

Better Rich Text includes what CKEditor 5 keeps behind Professional, the Collaboration add-on and its Custom plan: comments, track changes, revision history, real-time co-editing on your own server, Word and PDF export, spelling and grammar, and math. One $299 licence.

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Why teams leave CKEditor.

From CKEditor’s own pricing page and docs, struck through and replaced with what you get instead.

  1. Collaboration

    Comments, track changes, revision history and co-authoring need Professional at $289 a month plus the Collaboration add-on at $249 a month. All four are included, running on your own server.

    Source 1

  2. Price rises

    On 1 April 2026, Professional with collaboration was $405 a month. By May, collaboration was a separate add-on and the same features cost $538 a month, about 33% more. You pay once, so there’s no plan for us to restructure.

    Source 5

  3. Billing

    Every plan meters editor loads, at $30 to $60 per 1,000 over the allowance. Without a card on file, the Free plan turns read-only when its allowance runs out. There’s no load metering, and nothing turns read-only.

    Source 1

  4. Self-hosting

    Self-hosted commercial use “requires contacting sales and a custom plan”, and since v44 every install needs a licence key, GPL included. Self-hosted by default, with no licence key in your config.

    Sources 2, 3

  5. Code

    Code blocks don’t highlight while you type; CKEditor’s docs call live highlighting “impossible when editing”. Code blocks highlight 20 languages as you type.

    Source 4

  6. Top-tier extras

    Spelling and grammar checking and math equations are only on the Custom plan. Spelling and grammar through your choice of provider, and math, are included.

    Source 1

  7. Documents

    Word and PDF exports are counted: 200 a month on Essential, then $0.25 per Word document and $0.15 per PDF. Word import and export and PDF, with no quotas.

    Source 1

  8. AI

    CKEditor AI is sold as credits, from $133 a month. Choose your cloud provider or optional on-device AI on supported desktops. AI agents can call every editor command as a tool.

    Source 1

Better Rich Text and CKEditor 5, line by line.

Every row is included in a Better Rich Text licence. The CKEditor 5 column says whether it’s included, on a paid plan, a paid add-on, or not available, from CKEditor 5’s own pages.

Better Rich Text and CKEditor 5, as of 30 October 2026
Feature Better Rich Text CKEditor 5
Price$299, onceEssential $144 a month, Professional $289 a monthSource 1
Billed per editor loadNoYes: $30 to $60 per 1,000 loads over the planSource 1
ApplicationsUnlimited, SaaS includedOne application per licence, unlimited domainsSource 1
Premium features on your own serversIncludedPaid plan (Custom; “requires contacting sales”)Source 2
Comments in a margin sidebar, with threadsIncludedAdd-on (Collaboration, $249 a month, on Professional)Source 1
Track changesIncludedAdd-on (Collaboration)Source 1
Revision historyIncludedAdd-on (Collaboration)Source 1
Real-time co-editing on your own serverIncludedPaid plan (Custom, on-premises)Source 1
Word exportIncludedPaid plan quota (200 a month on Essential, then $0.25 each)Source 1
PDF exportIncludedPaid plan quota (as Word, then $0.15 each)Source 1
Word importIncludedPaid plan (Professional)Source 1
Templates, merge fields and footnotesIncludedPaid plan (Essential)Source 1
MathIncludedPaid plan (Custom)Source 1
Spelling and grammar beyond the browserIncludedPaid plan (Custom)Source 1
Code highlighting while you editIncludedNot available (“impossible when editing”)Source 4
Accessibility checkerIncludedNot availableSource 1
AI assistantIncluded (cloud or supported on-device model)Add-on (credits, from $133 a month)Source 1
Table totals that update as you typeIncludedNot availableSource 1
Aurelia 2, Solid and Web Components adaptersIncludedNot availableSource 6

Compare all four editors side by side

Moving across.

CKEditor 5 saves HTML, and Better Rich Text loads it. Read your documents with editor.getData(), pass them to content or setHTML(), and headings, lists, tables, images, links, quotes and code blocks come across as they are.

Toolbars are one string of item names, and every feature is a typed command you can call, chain or check with can(). Comments, suggestions and revisions kept in CKEditor Cloud Services are exported from there and imported as records.

Read the migration guide

import { createRichTextEditor } from '@better-rich-text/core';

const editor = createRichTextEditor('#editor', {
  content: savedHtml,
  toolbar: 'blocks | bold italic | bulletList orderedList | link image table',
  onChange: (e) => save(e.getHTML()),
});

Questions.

Is Better Rich Text an alternative to CKEditor 5 for collaboration?
Yes. Comments with a margin sidebar and threads, suggested edits, revision history and real-time co-editing are in the $299 licence and run on a Node server you host. CKEditor 5 sells the same four through the Collaboration add-on on Professional, or on-premises on its Custom plan.
How much does it cost compared with CKEditor 5?
$299 once. CKEditor Professional with the Collaboration add-on is $538 a month on annual billing, $19,368 over three years, before load overage. Prices as of 30 October 2026.
Does it need a licence key or CKEditor Cloud Services?
No. There’s no licence key in your config and no cloud service. The editor and the collaboration server run on your own infrastructure.
Can I keep my existing CKEditor content?
Yes. Load the HTML from getData() with setHTML(). Headings, lists, tables, images, links, quotes and code blocks keep their structure.
Which frameworks does it support?
React, Vue, Angular, Svelte, Aurelia 2, Solid and Web Components have adapters, and the core works with plain TypeScript or JavaScript. It’s written in TypeScript and tree-shakes, so you only bundle the features you import.

Collaboration add-on Included.

Every row on this page comes with one $299 licence.

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