Overleaf
Web-based collaborative LaTeX editor.
Maintained, but at a slower pace than the leaders in its category.
Commit activity more than 88% of tracked projects; popularity more than 87%. How this is calculated.
Commits, last 11 months
| Stars | 18k |
|---|---|
| Latest release | v0.1.3 · 26 Feb 2015 |
| Repo updated | 17 Sept 2026 |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 |
| Built with | Ruby |
Is Overleaf actively maintained?
Over the last 11 months the project absorbed 1799 commits, of which 247 arrived in the most recent quarter — roughly 82 commits a month.
Activity is cooling: commits are down 61% against the previous quarter. One slow quarter is normal; two in a row is a signal.
The last tagged release, v0.1.3, is over 11 years old. If you deploy, expect to build from the default branch rather than a stable tag.
Overleaf ranks #14 of 22 tracked note-taking & editors projects. Several better-maintained options exist in the same category — they are listed below.
What Overleaf actually does
Overleaf provides a web-based interface for writing documents in the LaTeX typesetting system. It enables multiple users to edit the same project simultaneously through a browser. The platform manages the compilation of source files into final PDF output.
Best fit: It suits research groups, academic teams, and technical authors who need collaborative document creation without installing local LaTeX toolchains.
Worth knowing: The codebase has had very infrequent tagged releases for a long time, meaning you may need to rely on the main branch for updates and security fixes.
Deployment notes
As a Ruby application, it typically requires a managed database backend, a process manager like Puma or Unicorn, and a reverse proxy to handle TLS termination.
Links
Alternatives to Overleaf
Projects in the same categories, ordered by health score.
Cross-platform hierarchical note taking application with focus on building large personal knowledge bases (fork of Trilium Notes).
Note taking application with markdown editor and encryption support for mobile and desktop platforms. Runs client-side and syncs through a self hosted Nextcloud instance or similar (alternative to Evernote).
Knowledge base that works with a SQLite db file.
Collaborative note taking, wiki and documentation platform that scales.
Realtime collaborative markdown notes on all platforms, formerly known as CodiMD and HackMD CE.
Note-taking application optimized for people with a hacker mindset.