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CKEditor vs TinyMCE

How do TinyMCE and CKEditor compare, and which rich text editor is right for you?

Why TinyMCE is the Best CKEditor Alternative

TinyMCE WYSIWYG
Rich Text Editor


TinyMCE is a trusted low-code and familiar end-user experience out-of-the-box, paired with a sleek intuitive UI and comprehensive, advanced features.

TinyMCE is built and maintained by Tiny Technologies — a team of 80+ people with over two decades of rich text editor building experience. 

CKEditor


CKEditor is a highly configurable, but complex to set up, rich text editor that provides developers the ability to create a bespoke rich text editing experience with a high degree of customization and control.

It is built and maintained by CKSource – a team of 50+ people focused on building content management tools.

CKEditor vs TinyMCE rich text editor

Over the past two decades, both CKEditor and TinyMCE have pioneered rich text editing. They jointly deserve credit for shaping the industry into what it is today.

Both editors are considered enterprise-grade, are available under an open source license and have stellar engineering teams that stand behind their products.

So what’s the difference between CKEditor and TinyMCE?

Three things often come up: use case, content type, and complexity of customization.

USE CASE

Both editors excel in their respective use cases.

As an editor framework, CKEditor 5’s biggest strength is collaboration and complete customization of the editor. With features like Track Changes and Real-time Collaboration, it’s a great choice for situations where you want to offer multi-user document editing experiences similar to Google Docs.

However, there is a tradeoff – CKEditor users report the editor having a steep learning curve and being cumbersome to set up, as it requires heavy configuration even for a basic install.

On the other hand, TinyMCE can be set up in just six lines of code. And with our use-case-specific starter configs, you’re only one copy-paste away from adding rich text editing into your app to match its exact editing needs.

CONTENT TYPE

Consider TinyMCE if your content will be saved as HTML
TinyMCE is ideal in situations where you’re creating content that will be rendered as HTML, for example emails, web pages or any other online content. The editor contents are entirely HTML-based, which means TinyMCE delivers a true WYSIWYG experience – content is rendered in the editor the exact same way it is in the browser. No surprises.

CKEditor stores data in a tree-like structure of elements and text nodes, but also introduces additional complexity. If you aren’t targeting HTML output and need powerful collaborative features, CKEditor can be a viable choice.


COMPLEXITY OF CUSTOMIZATION

Developers love CKEditor for its modern composable architecture that provides an almost infinite number of configuration possibilities. It’s a market leader for anyone who needs precise control over the features and UI presented to their users. This same configurability, however, can create complexities that add time and cost to an implementation.

Fully featured out-of-the-box, you can implement TinyMCE in minutes with only a few lines of code. Our uncomplicated low-code architecture gives you a best-in-class editing experience in an easily scalable framework that leads to shorter development cycles and faster launches.

License and Support

TinyMCECKEditor 5
Open source licenseGPL2+GPL2+
Community support
Professional support (paid plans)
Phone support available (paid plans)

Pros and Cons TinyMCE vs CKEditor 5

The CKEditor vs TinyMCE comparison is updated twice-annually

The Basics

TinyMCECKEditor 5
Cost Premium features from $450 per yearCustom pricing
Open Source
License
 
GPL2+GPL2+
Commercial License 
Self-hosted Deployment
Cloud Deployment 
Users UnlimitedCustom
Developers UnlimitedCustom

Customization and Integration

TinyMCECKEditor 5
API 
Framework Integrations Angular, AngularJS, Blazor, Bootstrap, Django, jQuery, Laravel, Node.js + Express, Rails, React, Svelte, Swing, Vue, Web ComponentsAngular, Bootstrap, Electron,
jQuery, React, Vue,
Webpack
Customizable UI 
Skins and Icon Packs 
Language Translations 3741

Check out a detailed comparison of best Vue rich text editors

Check out a detailed comparison of best React rich text editors


Docs & Support

TinyMCECKEditor 5
Extensive documentation
Community Support 
Professional Support 
Support SLAs 
Number of support tickets per month 2+2+
Dedicated Account Manager 
Phone Support Available

Core Editing Features

TinyMCECKEditor 5
Basic Formatting 
Multi-Root Editing 
Ordered / Unordered Lists
Tables 
Image Insert
Emoticons / Emoji Picker

Advanced Editing Features

TinyMCECKEditor 5
AI Assistant
Code Editor
Image Editing 
Advanced Templates 
Enhanced Media Embed 
File Management 
Merge Tags 
CSS-inlined output
Content Filtering 
Format Painter 
Permanent Pen 
Case Change
Accordions
Table of Contents
Checklists
Export to PDF
Markdown
Import from Word
Export from Word

Check out a detailed comparison of format painter features


Clean Copy and Paste

Functionality that processes and cleans up pasted content from apps, ensuring compliant and easy-to-edit HTML

TinyMCECKEditor 5
MS Word
MS Excel
Google Docs

Note: Faded check marks indicate partial functionality

Check out a detailed comparison of clean copy and paste features


Compliance

TinyMCECKEditor 5
Customizable Spell Checker
Spelling Autocorrect
Accessibility Checker 
Broken Link Checker
Footnotes
Advanced Typography 

Check out a detailed comparison of spell checking features

Check out a detailed comparison of accessibility features


Collaboration

TinyMCECKEditor 5
Mentions 
Comments 
Track changes
Revision history

Check out a detailed comparison of comments features

Check out a detailed comparison of @mentions features


Security

TinyMCECKEditor 5
Asymmetric JWT Signing 

See a mistake? Let us know.

All data in the table above (and supporting pages) was pulled from projects’ public websites on Feb 1, 2023

Features listed vary by plan (open-source, free or paid). If information on a specific feature or topic cannot be found on the editor’s website, it is not included. Only features released by the editor author are listed.

Migrating from CKEditor 4 or 5 to TinyMCE?

It’s easy to migrate from CKEditor to TinyMCE, with minimal disruption:

1.


Read our quick guide on How to migrate from CKEditor to TinyMCE

Easy integration with 12 + frameworks and hundreds of other tools

The TinyMCE code is totally customizable and works with the framework of your choice

Help when and where you need it

Enterprise-Grade Support

Responsive, in-house support to help you implement, customize and troubleshoot.

Learn more →

Community

Thousands of questions and answers updated daily on StackOverflow and Github.

Browse questions →

Documentation

Tutorials, quickstarts, code samples and videos to help you deploy faster.

Explore Docs →

Trusted by the hottest startups and biggest brands

“TinyMCE satisfied our needs at a competitive cost, and we were able to integrate it without restructuring our product.”

Chris Burd | Vice President of policyIQ

“TinyMCE should be at the top of any list if you’re looking for a visual text editor. It’s flexible, integrates well with different systems and is extremely stable.”

Rob Wells | Vice President of policyIQ

“We’re very satisfied with TinyMCE’s features, functionality, ease of integration, and the impeccable support team.”

Paul Alexandrescu | Technical Director

Chris Burd | Vice President, policyIQ

Rob Wells | CEO

Paul Alexandrescu | Technical Director

Some Tiny stats

350M+


downloads every single year

100M+


products powered by TinyMCE

35M+


hits on our CDN per day

23,000+


commits on GitHub

1.5M


developers worldwide use TinyMCE

400+


APIs

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