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RichTextEditor vs TinyMCE
Perpetual license vs metered editor loads. A factual comparison for teams shortlisting a rich text editor in 2026 — pricing model, AI, collaboration, and when each option is the right call.
3-year cost
$2,844+ (Essential, 3 yrs, no overage) vs $129 once
TinyMCE pricing modelRecurringFree tier (1,000 editor loads/mo), then usage-based subscription from $79/mo - overage billed per 1,000 loads
RichTextEditor pricing modelPerpetualFrom $129 one-time per domain. Free community edition. No metering, no AI add-on.
Side by side
| RichTextEditor | TinyMCE | |
|---|---|---|
| License | Perpetual, per-domain, from $129 one-time | Subscription; usage metered by editor loads |
| AI features | Built-in AI Toolkit (Ask AI, AI Chat, AI Review) with BYOK - no add-on fee | AI Assistant is a paid add-on with vendor-managed credits |
| Real-time collaboration | Per-node Yjs CRDT engine included | No real-time co-editing - the RTC plugin was retired; v8 offers asynchronous Suggested Edits whose state you persist yourself |
| Self-hosting | Fully self-hosted; no phone-home, no load counting | Self-hosting available, but cloud key + load counting on paid tiers |
| Open-source core | No (free community edition instead) | Yes (GPL2+ core) |
| Track changes / comments | Included | Premium plan features |
| Content accessibility checker | Included - scans for missing alt text, contrast, heading structure | Accessibility Checker Plugin is a premium add-on |
| Paginated page view | Included - live A4/Letter/Legal page view with headers, footers and page numbers | Not available - Page Embed inserts an iframe; there is no page view |
| Multi-level / legal list numbering | Included - 1, 1.1, 1.1.1 legal numbering | No multi-level list feature |
| Footnotes | Included - auto-numbered markers and notes that renumber on insert, delete and reorder | Premium plugin - available only on paid subscriptions |
| Table of contents | Included - self-updating contents block, with page numbers in page view | Premium plugin - available only on paid subscriptions |
| Format painter | Included | Premium plugin - available only on paid subscriptions |
| Change case | Included - UPPER, lower, Title, Sentence and tOGGLE case | Premium plugin - available only on paid subscriptions |
| Autocorrect & typography | Included - typo correction, sentence capitalisation, smart quotes, dashes and symbols | Two premium plugins (Autocorrect + Advanced Typography), paid subscriptions only |
| Merge fields / mail merge | Included - atomic placeholders, sample-data preview, and render-to-HTML per record | Merge Tags is a premium plugin - paid subscriptions only |
| Link checking | Included - broken anchors, unsafe schemes, mixed content, unlabelled and deceptive links, all with no service to run | Premium plugin, and self-hosting requires you to deploy their link-checking service |
| Table sorting & row numbering | Included - type-detecting sort (numbers, dates, text) and numeric/alpha/roman row numbering | Enhanced Tables is a premium plugin - paid subscriptions only |
| Permanent pen | Included - keep typing in a fixed annotation format until switched off | Premium plugin - paid subscriptions only |
| Cross-references | Included - references to headings, clauses, footnotes, tables and figures that renumber themselves | No cross-reference feature documented |
| Margin line numbers | Included - numbers every visual line, restarting per page in page view, as court filing rules require | No line-numbering feature documented |
| Word (.docx) import | Included - runs in the browser with no upload; keeps links, images, numbered/nested lists, tables, alignment, footnotes/endnotes, text boxes, SmartArt outlines, tracked changes and equations (OMML converted to LaTeX and back) | Import from Word is a premium plugin backed by a conversion service |
| Word (.docx) export | Included - writes a real OOXML package in the browser with no upload; headings, formatting, nested lists, tables, links, images, footnotes, tracked changes and equations, and it re-imports losslessly | Export to Word is a paid service that uploads the document for conversion |
| PDF export with selectable text | Included - writes the PDF in the browser with no library and no upload; text is selectable and searchable, links stay clickable, and the file carries a full accessibility tag tree (headings, lists, table header cells, figure alt text, running headers marked as artifacts) | Export to PDF is a paid service that uploads the document for conversion |
| Formatting marks | Included - pilcrows, block outlines, and highlighting for non-breaking/zero-width/soft-hyphen characters | visualchars and visualblocks are in the free core |
| Right-to-left text | Included - per-block and document direction, first-strong auto-detection, alignment swap, and bidi isolation | The directionality plugin is in the free core |
| Watermark | Included - DRAFT/CONFIDENTIAL behind the content, unselectable, excluded from print by default | No watermark feature documented |
| Diagrams | Mermaid diagram blocks included - render with your own Mermaid build or a server-side resolver | No diagramming feature |
Choose TinyMCE when…
- You want a GPL open-source core and accept the copyleft terms.
- Your traffic is tiny and stays under the free tier's 1,000 loads/month.
- You are already invested in the Tiny Cloud ecosystem.
Choose RichTextEditor when…
- Your pages load the editor more than ~1,000 times a month - metered pricing compounds fast.
- You want AI in the editor without an add-on subscription: bring your own OpenAI/Anthropic/Ollama key.
- You want a price that never changes after purchase.
Frequently asked
Is RichTextEditor cheaper than TinyMCE?
For most production sites, yes over time: RichTextEditor is a one-time perpetual license from $129 per domain, while TinyMCE's paid plans start around $79/month metered by editor loads - about $2,844 over three years before overage.
How hard is migrating from TinyMCE?
Both are config-driven classic WYSIWYG editors, so the concepts map one-to-one: toolbar strings, setup callbacks, and upload handlers. The migration guide at richtexteditor.com/migrate has a TinyMCE cheat sheet; most teams finish in under a day.
Does RichTextEditor have an accessibility checker like TinyMCE?
Yes - and it's included in every license rather than sold as a separate add-on. It scans the document being authored for missing alt text, empty headings, low color contrast, and other accessibility issues, alongside the editor's own WCAG 2.2 AA conformance work.
Competitor details reflect public pricing pages and documentation at the time of writing and may change; see source notes. Product names are trademarks of their respective owners.