What is CKEditor?
CKEditor is a long-standing, commercial rich text editor that’s been around since 2003. It’s widely used in enterprise CMSs, form builders, and document workflows, offering a feature-rich WYSIWYG experience out of the box.
CKEditor provides:
- A visual UI with toolbars and plugins
- A custom data model (not based on ProseMirror or Slate)
- A commercial license with cloud and on-prem options
How Tiptap is different
Tiptap is a modern rich text editor framework built on top of ProseMirror. It’s fully open-source, headless, and designed for developer control — not just configuration.
It also comes with built-in AI capabilities via Content AI, giving developers tools to integrate LLMs directly into the editor with:
- Smart AI autocomplete, rewriting, summarization
- Fine-tuned control over prompt behavior and user experience
- Full access to the structured document tree for better context
Here’s what else makes Tiptap stand out:
- Framework-agnostic (React, Vue, Vanilla)
- Headless by default – design your own UI
- React UI components – use our growing UI library
- Real-time collaboration with CRDTs (Yjs)
- Enterprise-ready: SSO, audit logs, on-prem support
- Open-source core with flexible commercial add-ons
Feature comparison
| Feature |
Tiptap |
CKEditor |
| Visual UI |
UI components available |
Fully included |
| Framework support |
React, Vue, Vanilla |
React (wrapper only) |
| Headless architecture |
✅ |
❌ |
| ProseMirror-based |
✅ |
❌ |
| Real-time collaboration |
✅ (via Yjs) |
✅ (paid feature) |
| Markdown support |
✅ |
⚠️ (plugin) |
| AI Assistant / Copilot |
✅ (Content AI) |
❌ |
| AI prompt control |
✅ |
❌ |
| Custom extension system |
✅ |
⚠️ (plugin config only) |
| Enterprise features |
✅ |
✅ |
| License |
OSS core + paid features |
Commercial (limited OSS) |
| Community ecosystem |
Large (GitHub + Discord) |
Mature, but closed |
When to use CKEditor
- You want a full-featured WYSIWYG out of the box
- You’re working in a traditional CMS or intranet setup
- You don’t need to customize the editing logic or UI
- You’re okay with a commercial license and pre-defined UX
When to use Tiptap
- You want to build a custom editor UI
- You care about modern architecture and framework flexibility
- You want to integrate AI capabilities that feel native and contextual
- You need fine-grained control over schema, commands, and UX
- You’re building collaborative, AI-enhanced, or enterprise-ready workflows
Summary
CKEditor is a reliable, well-supported choice for traditional WYSIWYG use cases.
But if you’re building a modern, AI-powered editor that demands customization and control, Tiptap gives you the framework and tools to build it your way.
Want to see what AI + rich text looks like in practice?
Explore Tiptap Content AI and start building with our Starter Guide.
Note: We’ve done our best to provide an accurate, respectful comparison based on publicly available information as of publishing. If you work on CKEditor and spot anything that’s out of date or incorrect, we’d love to fix it, just email us at growth@tiptap.dev.
