If you are searching for an Overleaf alternative, you are probably in one of three situations. You have a paper with three or more authors and hit the free plan's collaborator limit. You lost version history you needed. Or you are paying per seat for a lab and the total looks high.
This post compares the two tools on the nine points from yesterday's checklist. I work on LetX, so I am biased, and I have tried to say where Overleaf is the better choice. All numbers below come from each vendor's own pages as I read them on 26 October 2026. Plans change, so check both pricing pages before you decide.
The short version
- Use LetX if you write in teams of three or more, want unlimited collaborators on a free plan, and care about compile speed.
- Use Overleaf if you work alone or with one co-author, need its paid features like track changes, or your institution already provides it.
- Use neither if your team is happy in a local setup with Git and has the skills to maintain it.
Free plans side by side
| Overleaf Free | LetX Free | |
|---|---|---|
| Collaborators per project | One collaborator | Unlimited |
| Projects | Not stated on the plans page | Unlimited |
| Compiles | Limited by compile timeout | 40 per day, builds up to 2 minutes |
| Version history | Previous 24 hours | Last 15 versions |
| Templates | Included | All 1000+ included |
| AI assistant | 5 uses per day on the plans page | Lexi is a Pro feature |
| Price | $0 | $0 |
Two things stand out. LetX's free plan has no collaborator cap but does cap compiles at 40 per day. Overleaf's free plan caps collaborators but, as far as the plans page states, does not give a daily compile count. If your team compiles constantly, the 40-per-day limit is the number to watch.
Paid plans side by side
| Overleaf | LetX | |
|---|---|---|
| Student / academic | $8.25 per month billed yearly ($13 monthly), 10 collaborators per project | Academic Pro $9 per month or $90 per year, unlimited collaborators |
| Mid tier | Standard, $16.75 per month billed yearly ($25 monthly), 10 collaborators | n/a |
| Top tier | Pro, $33.25 per month billed yearly ($45 monthly), unlimited collaborators, SSO and admin features | Pro $18 per month or $180 per year, unlimited collaborators |
| Unlimited compiles | Paid plans extend the compile timeout | Included in Pro and Academic Pro |
| Full version history | Paid plans | Pro and Academic Pro |
| GitHub integration | Paid plans (integrations) | Pro and Academic Pro |
A few notes on reading this table fairly:
- Overleaf's student plan requires enrollment at a degree-granting institution. LetX's academic plan covers students, faculty and university staff, and verification asks for a transcript or ID document.
- LetX's Academic Pro includes everything in Pro except that its monthly Lexi AI allowance is smaller.
- Overleaf's higher tiers add things like SSO and audit logging that matter to institutions. Compare against what your department needs, not against the headline price.
Where each one wins
Overleaf is strong when:
- You work alone or with one co-author, so the collaborator cap never bites.
- You need track changes or its other paid review features.
- Your university already pays for it, which makes the price irrelevant.
- You want the largest existing ecosystem of tutorials and community answers.
LetX is strong when:
- Your paper has three or more authors and you do not want to pay just to add a collaborator.
- You want live editing on a CRDT (Yjs), which merges simultaneous edits instead of locking or conflicting.
- You want a free plan that includes the whole template library.
- You want an AI assistant that reads the project and the compile log (Lexi, on Pro). I cover it in a later post.
Switching takes about two minutes
You do not need to commit before you try it:
- In Overleaf, download your project as source (the ZIP).
- In LetX, create a project by uploading that ZIP.
- Compile and check that images,
.bibfiles and folder structure came across. - Invite a co-author and edit the same section at the same time.
LetX runs standard TeX Live, so most projects compile without changes. If something does not, check packages and engine settings first.
What I would test before switching
- Your slowest document. Compile the longest paper or thesis you have and compare times on both tools.
- A real co-author conflict. Two people, one paragraph, at the same time.
- The deadline scenario. Count how many compiles you actually do in a day. If it is near 40, price Pro in.
For the full list of claims and caveats, I keep a LetX vs Overleaf comparison page, and a longer post on Overleaf's free plan limits. Try it free at letx.app.
If you have switched in either direction, I would like to hear what surprised you. Tomorrow: how to write a paper with co-authors in six steps.
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