Froala vs ContentTools: Which Is The Best Choice?

Anyone with even a little bit of web design experience knows what the term “WYSIWYG editor” means.  It is a common acronym in the web development world that stands for What You See Is What You Get. In other words, with WYSIWYG editors, you see a live preview of your projects and designs while you edit them.

Although they’re not new to developers and content editors, not all WYSIWYG editors are built equally. As such, choosing the right editor for your project can be overwhelming. Obviously, the best editor for your project is one that meets your project requirements and resources.  In addition, it should provide you with room to grow.  In order to help you, we compare the Froala editor with other editors on the market. This should help you easily identify which editor to choose for your project. 

Today we are taking a look at how Froala compares with the open-source ContentTools Editor.

What is ContentTools Editor?

If you have never heard of the ContentTools editor, it was built by Anthony Blackshaw of Getme Limited. Content Tools is an open-source WYSIWYG editor. It is built for HTML content and written in JavaScript as well as CoffeeScript.

What is Froala?

Froala is an aesthetically appealing web editor that’s easy for developers to integrate.  It is a lightweight JavaScript WYSIWYG HTML Editor that enables rich text editing capabilities for your applications.

Froala vs. ContentTools; Which Has The Best Features?

Every editor is defined by its features, so here we take a look to see what both Froala and ContentTools have to offer.

ContentTools Editor

Editable regions
Identify editable regions with a keyboard shortcut.

Add and convert content
Multiple methods for adding and converting content.

Drag and place
Drag content around the page to place.

Smart delete
Automatically remove empty text elements and list items.

Images
Upload, rotate and crop before being inserted into the page.

History
Undo/redo for the editing session.

View/Edit Properties
The properties of an element can be viewed in the inspector bar.

HTML code:

Framework Agnostic

ContentTools does not use any JavaScript framework, however, it works well with many of them.

Flexibility 

This WYSIWYG editor is made up of 5 libraries, each of which you can use independently. 

Extensible

ContentTools allows you to easily add new extensions.

Size

This WYSIWYG editor is small, with the full editor (JavaScript, CSS, Images, and Icon fonts) making up a total of 241kb. 

Froala

Track Changes

Froala v4.0 allows users to track changes against new or deleted text within the editor as well as various styling and formatting changes to the text, images & tables.

Advanced Styling

Froala also provides more advanced styling options through plugins. You just have to include the ones you need.

Optimized for mobile

Froala can be accessed using mobile and also tablet devices. This editor supports both android and IOS devices. In addition, it has image and video resizing for mobile. It also has a customizable toolbar for practically any screen size.  

Customization

Froala also offers complete customizing freedom. You can use the API to change the default behaviour as well as edit the source code.

Markdown Support

Also, a v4.0 feature, this editor lets you format words & phrases in the rich text editor using code shortcuts through predefined markdown syntax.

International

Used all over the world, in more than 100 countries, Froala works in every language, including East Asian languages.

Iframes

Froala helps you avoid style or script conflicts by isolating your content from the rest of the page using iframe.

Feature Comparison

While ContentTools has a limited number of essential features, the Froala editor has more features than we can discuss in this article. Check out a feature comparison table for an overview of how the two editors compare:

Features	Froala	Mercury Editor
Customization	Yes	No
Cross-platform	Yes	Yes
Code view	Yes	No
Custom regions	No	Yes
Code mirror	Yes	No
Ajax ready	Yes	No
International	Yes	No
RTL support	Yes	No
Track changes	Yes	No
Markdown support	Yes	No
50l compliant	Yes	No
WCAG 2.0 compliant	Yes	No
WAI-ARIA compliant	Yes	No
Jasmine and Cucumber	No	Yes
Snippets	No	Yes
Configuration	No	Yes

Feature Rating

ContentTools Editor 

Froala

Which Has the Better Documentation?

No product is truly complete without proper documentation. Having access to clear documentation saves both time and effort and can often be the difference between a smooth implementation and a world of hurt.

ContentTools Editor

This editor boasts of a list of helpful resources, starting with its on-page documentation, reference documentation for the ContentTools library, a detailed FAQ section, and a developers community.

Froala

Froala has many helpful resources online, from youtube videos, help center pages, guides, community to a full website page dedicated to FAQs. In addition, its on-page documentation begins with a quick start guide and then goes on to include links to 60+ examples, 10+ how-to guides, and 7 create-element guides.

What’s more, the Froala support team is always on hand to help if you can’t find an answer in all its available resources.

Which is Easier to Use?

Often overlooked, ease of use is especially important when it comes to WYSIWYG editors. Often implemented to allow non-coders to design and create pages, a complex editor can defeat that purpose. Similarly, an editor that is difficult to implement and maintain, could hinder your workflows.

ContentTools Editor

With its online resources, ContentTools is relatively easy to use. Its reference documentation contains everything you need to use this editor.

Froala

With an easy-to-understand quick start guide and an option to explore its complete features before downloading, Froala has an excellent rating when it comes to ease of use. The Froala support team is also on hand to guide you every step of the way. 

Pricing

ContentTools Editor

(Free) No pricing information is given. However, this generally means no support options. If you do need additional help, you will likely need to hire an experienced developer to show you the way if the documentation doesn’t answer your questions.

Froala

Froala is priced in four tiers, each with the option of a subscription or perpetual license. There are also different features available for each tier. 

Basic 

$199/year

This plan is perfect for blogs as well as simple personal application. The plan has the following features:

• Unlimited monthly active users
• 1 product
• 3 domains
• Activation key per domain
• Free updates to the latest versions
• Community only support. 
• Self-hosted

Pro 

This plan comes with no domain constraint and is ideal for SaaS, intranet, or mobile apps. It includes all the features in the basic plan in addition to the following:

• Full source code
• SaaS/Subscription
• Internal applications. 

Enterprise

This plan is great for teams with wide product portfolios. It includes all the features in the Pro plan but for 3 products. 

Enterprise+

This plan is perfect for teams with on-premise deployments. It includes unlimited everything and redistribution/OEM.

Which WYSIWYG Editor Should I Use?

The difference between these two editors is pretty clear. Although the ContentTools Editor is free, free isn’t necessarily better. ContentTools lacks many powerful features you find standard in Froala — features that users have come to expect from a modern WYSIWYG HTML editor.  For the most basic tasks, ContentTools may meet your needs. If your requirements go beyond that, however, it is a false economy. 

Froala, on the other hand, is fully packed with premium features and personalized plans for everyone.

Are you ready to get started?

Head over and get started integrating the Froala Editor in your project today.