DocKosha is now open source: document sharing without feature tiers
Why I am opening DocKosha’s document-sharing and virtual data-room application, including every feature in every plan, and planning DocYantra’s release next.
Almost a year ago, I got tired of checking which subscription unlocked the document controls I needed. That frustration became DocKosha, a platform for secure document sharing and virtual data rooms.
Today, we're publishing the application source under AGPL-3.0-or-later. With this launch, every DocKosha feature is included in every plan. Paid upgrades give you more storage.
This opens the application code for inspection and contribution. DocYantra, our document-processing engine, is planned for an open-source release in the coming weeks; independent self-hosting isn't available today.
I'm proud to share this, and I want to explain the choices behind it.
Why I built DocKosha
I spent time looking at document-sharing tools such as Dropbox DocSend and Papermark. I wanted secure links, useful document analytics, and a data room with sensible access controls. I kept returning to pricing tables to work out which subscription covered the workflow.
DocSend lists features such as NDA gates and dynamic watermarking in its Advanced tier. Papermark offers free document sharing and paid data-room plans, with capabilities such as Q&A and audit logs in higher tiers. Their pricing pages explain these differences; the model simply wasn't what I wanted to build.
The wider market includes Digify for document protection and tracking, alongside Firmex, Ansarada, and Datasite for data rooms and transaction workflows. These products serve different needs. I knew I was entering a crowded category.
What kept me building was the small team on the other side of the pricing page. A founder preparing investor documents. An adviser sharing confidential information. Someone who needs control over a file, even if they don't need much storage.
Their documents matter just as much.
Every feature, every plan
Our promise is straightforward: every feature is included in every plan, and paid upgrades give you more storage.
That includes document analytics, data rooms, granular access permissions, NDA gates, watermarking, and the other features built into DocKosha. Storage allowances still apply. The feature set stays available as your storage needs change.
A smaller storage requirement shouldn't mean fewer tools for protecting and managing your documents.
Running the service costs money. Storage, document processing, maintenance, and support need funding. I want DocKosha to be sustainable because people find it useful and reasonably priced. I want customers to feel good about paying us.
If you're looking for a DocSend alternative for document sharing or a virtual data room for fundraising, that is the difference I want you to judge us on.
Why open the source?
When someone uploads a pitch deck, a contract, or confidential diligence material, they're placing real trust in the software handling it.
Publishing the application code gives developers and security reviewers something concrete to examine: how access checks work, how sharing rules are applied, and how the application handles analytics.
Code visibility doesn't prove how a hosted service operates or replace security reviews. It does make more of our work open to scrutiny. That matters in a product built around sensitive documents.
I also want people to challenge our assumptions. Contributors may notice a confusing permission setting, a missing accessibility detail, or a document workflow we haven't considered. There's a limit to what one founder can see from inside their own application.
Other people are already doing valuable open-source work here. Papermark's repository uses AGPLv3 for code outside specified commercially licensed directories. Its source licensing and its hosted subscriptions are separate questions. Papermark's license
DocKosha has one public application source edition under AGPL-3.0-or-later. We chose AGPL because users interacting over a network with a modified version must be offered that version's corresponding source under the license's terms. That fits the participation we want to encourage. GNU AGPL, section 13
Can you self-host DocKosha today?
Not yet. The application depends on DocYantra, our private document-processing engine for supported PDF and Office workflows.
We plan to open-source DocYantra in the coming weeks. That is the next step toward making the complete platform independently runnable. Until the dependency is available and the installation path is ready, the public repository supports inspection and contribution but isn't a runnable self-hosting distribution. Our repository documents the current boundary.
When self-hosting becomes available, operating the platform will still mean maintaining its database, storage, email delivery, document processing, backups, security updates, and monitoring. Some teams want that responsibility and control.
DocKosha Cloud is the managed service available now. We handle the operational work so you can prepare your data room, share your documents, and get back to the work around them. My ambition is to make that experience good enough that people choose it because it saves them time.
Help shape what comes next
After almost a year, opening the application feels personal. I hope the open-source community welcomes us, questions us, and helps make DocKosha better.
If you use document-sharing tools, tell us where they get in your way. If you build software, our contribution guide explains how to get involved.
I started DocKosha with my own frustrations. I want the next chapter to include yours.