Open source is becoming central to Europe’s digital strategy as organizations look for alternatives that respect privacy and sovereignty.
XWiki and CryptPad are not new names in the European tech space. Both are open source platforms with roots going back over 20 years. Headquartered in Paris, the company behind them has grown from community-driven projects into widely used tools across industries and governments.
Dan Jayes, Director of Marketing and Communication at XWiki, explains that the mission goes beyond software. “We see ourselves as part of Europe’s digital sovereignty movement,” he says. “The only true way to safeguard sovereignty is by building and choosing European open source solutions.”
XWiki and CryptPad Tools Built on Open Source Principles
XWiki is an enterprise knowledge management platform. Teams use it to create and organize content, with features such as versioning, permissions and real-time collaboration. CryptPad is a privacy-first office suite that offers encrypted spreadsheets, presentations, forms and more. Both are open source, free to use and supported by a growing community of contributors.
Both tools are open source, free to use and supported by a growing community of contributors. Clients include Amazon, Lenovo, the European Parliament, Amnesty International Germany and the city of Nuremberg. CryptPad alone handles around two million documents a month, with the United Nations recently joining as a user.
What sets the company apart from Big Tech rivals is not only its technology but also its values. Jayes highlights independence, transparency and respect for local privacy laws as defining principles. There is no vendor lock-in. Customers can adapt the tools to their needs, not the other way around.
Why Open Source Is Gaining Value in Europe
The perception that open source tools are harder to use or integrate is changing. “Open source was long misunderstood,” Jayes says. “Today it is valued for its technical strength, for transparency and interoperability, and for the fact that it accelerates development.” He points out that open source solutions are audited by hundreds or thousands of developers worldwide, which builds trust and reliability.
Still, challenges remain. Many open source projects are specialized tools rather than integrated suites. Compared with global platforms from Big Tech, bundling and ease of use can be a struggle. That is starting to shift with collaborative efforts such as Eurostack, where European countries and developers are pooling resources to create integrated alternatives.
European Projects Strengthening Digital Sovereignty
One initiative that stands out is the OpenDesk project. It brings together eight established open source solutions, including XWiki, Nextcloud, Collabora Office, Element and OpenProject, to create a 100 percent open source alternative to Microsoft Office 365. It is designed for German public administration and built around privacy, decentralization and security.
Another example is XWiki’s recent partnership with OpenProject. Together they are positioning their tools as an open source alternative to Atlassian’s Confluence and Jira, fully developed and maintained in Europe. Beyond technical collaborations, the company has built commercial partnerships across Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France and more recently in Denmark and Italy.
A Shared Momentum for the Future
Jayes describes a “strong dynamic and solidarity” among European tech firms working together on open source. For him, Brussels best represents XWiki as a city. “It’s multicultural, diverse, open, and aligned with our ambition for European digital sovereignty.”
For those curious to try the tools, XWiki is available for free testing at xwiki.com, while CryptPad can be accessed at cryptpad.fr. Both remain rooted in open source while driving forward a future where Europe holds control over its digital infrastructure.
