CKEditor Releases Third Annual State of Collaborative Editing Report

Survey Finds AI-Powered Collaboration and Security Emerge as Top Priorities for Development Teams

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CKEditor, the leading collaborative rich text editor solution, today released its third annual State of Collaborative Editing Report. More than 500 developers and product managers surveyed reveal a significant shift in priorities: AI-powered collaboration has emerged as the most anticipated feature for the next five years, while security concerns have become more critical amid growing adoption of collaborative tools.

Key Insights from the 2025 Report:

• AI Collaboration Tops the Agenda: For the first time, AI-assisted collaboration (42%) has overtaken tracked changes (40%) and revision history (37%) as the feature developers consider most critical for the next five years.

• Collaboration Demand Surges: After a dip from 2023 to 2024, interest in collaborative features has rebounded. In 2025, 62% of respondents cited either significant or considerable user interest in collaboration tools, a 20-percentage-point increase from the prior year.

• Real-Time Editors (RTEs) Are Core Infrastructure: Seventy-three percent (73%) of respondents rated rich text editors as extremely or very important to their applications, up from 71% last year, cementing their role as essential components of modern software.

• Implementation Accelerates: Seventy-one percent (71%) of organizations have implemented or plan to implement collaboration tools within a year. However, 18% still lack collaboration features on their roadmaps, risking productivity losses as distributed work becomes the norm.

• Security Takes Center Stage: Security has become a top driver of RTE selection, including the choice to build or buy. Trends such as AI-related risks, prompt injection, or data leaks could be driving this increased emphasis on security.

• Buy-Over-Build: Sixty percent (60%) of respondents prefer purchasing a ready-made RTE component, citing ease of implementation (49%) and speed of development (46%) as the primary drivers. Security concerns (36%) remain the leading reason teams consider building in-house.

• Hybrid Deployments Gain Ground: Hybrid deployments now account for 26% of implementations, up from previous years, as organizations seek to balance the convenience of the cloud with on-premises control.

“We're witnessing generative AI transform the very nature of how we work and collaborate. Knowledge workers aren't just experimenting with AI anymore—they're integrating it deep into the creative process, making it an indispensable partner. But this is just the beginning. We see a future where AI and humans move toward true creative partnership: AI handles the heavy lifting of aggregation and drafting while humans bring judgment, direction, and meaning. Neither replaces the other. Both become more powerful together,” said Roman Khudonogov, Senior Director of Product Management for CKEditor.

The report also highlights the growing complexity of collaboration requirements across organizations of different sizes. Large organizations (61%) rated collaboration features as very or extremely important, compared with 58% for midsize companies and 44% for small organizations. Notably, midsize organizations showed the highest demand for AI-assisted collaboration at 60%, suggesting that rapid-growth companies are investing heavily in productivity-enhancing technology.

Looking ahead, the report predicts that rich text editors will evolve from isolated tools into integrated workflow hubs. Multi-device synchronization, out-of-the-box framework integrations and advanced interactive features will become standard as teams demand seamless collaboration across entire workstreams.

To read the full State of Collaborative Editing Report, visit https://ckeditor.com/insights/collaboration-survey-report-2025/. For more information on CKEditor, visit CKEditor. To learn more about CKEditor's flagship product, visit ckeditor.com/ckeditor-5/.

About CKSource

CKSource is the creator of CKEditor, the leading enterprise-grade WYSIWYG framework that provides complete customization and control for development teams. Build almost anything imaginable using its 1,000+ APIs, modern composable architecture and ultra-modern features purpose-built for collaboration. Starting as an open-source project in 2003, its flagship product, CKEditor 5, is used by millions around the globe. To learn more about CKSource, visit cksource.com.