Open Source Intranet

Improve internal communication and teamwork with our pre-built Open Intranet. This free, open source intranet system on Drupal comes with a set of core functionalities, such as file sharing, document management, and collaboration tools. 

Download, install, and customize it to boost employee engagement and accelerate knowledge management in your organization!

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Communication chaos and lack of access to information - do you know this problem? Our intranet will help you

Key features of the Open Intranet software

Our intranet offers a wide range of features that improve information sharing and engage employees at every level of the organization. Take a look at the basic elements of our ready-made platform.

 News with access control

 Events and calendar

 Knowledge base 

 “Must Read” feature for articles

 Intranet permissions and access

 Employee directory

 Internal forms

 Content supported by AI 

 Statistics and reports

 Search engine and navigation 

 Social networking features 

 Responsive design

 Integration with Google, Microsoft, LDAP 

 Clear dashboard

 Multilingual open source intranet

A screen showing news in the ready-made intranet from Droptica, which display by permission.

News with access control

Publish announcements and company news that are visible only to specific departments or groups. Control access with user permissions. This ensures that everyone is up to date and that the information reaches the right people in one digital workplace.

Available functionalities:

  • Tagging of articles for better filtering.
  • Reactions and likes following news.
  • Creation of static pages (e.g. “About Us”, “Company Mission”).
Calendar window with events in the free intranet platform from Droptica, where events can be added.

Events and calendar

Use our modern intranet to plan and share company events, meetings or training sessions in a calendar accessible to the whole team. Reminders and a shared schedule will increase attendance and employee engagement.

Available functionalities:

  • Events in online/offline modes and meeting links.
  • Location hiding for confidential events.
  • Integration with Google maps.
  • Monthly calendar view.
A knowledge base in the open source intranet from Droptica, with topics and editing options for users.

Knowledge base

Store procedures, instructions, and documentation in a a centralized repository to enable file sharing and improve document management. It will provide employees with a single source of truth, allowing them to easily find up-to-date docs, guides, and answers to frequently asked questions.

Available functionalities:

  • Document classification by categories and tags.
  • Suggested related content.
  • Document versioning and change history.
  • Control of access to specific files.
Employee directory window in Droptica's ready-made intranet, showing assignment to departments and offices.

Employee directory

Facilitate team integration by sharing a list of employees with each person's profile. Contact details, roles and competencies will be at hand, which encourages networking and quick access to the right person in the company.

Available functionalities:

  • Profile with contact information, photo and “About me” description.
  • Assignment to department and office (with filtering option).
  • Creating relationships, such as “supervisor-subordinate”.
  • Viewing team structure by department.
Screen with an internal form for submitting requests (e.g., leave requests) in the pre-built Droptica intranet.

Internal forms

Use open source intranet software to create and share electronic forms, such as leave requests, IT requests, and employee feedback surveys. Automate the circulation of submissions and collect data in an organized manner, eliminating the need for paper or separate applications.

Available functionalities:

  • Support for attachments (e.g. PDF files, images).
  • Prioritization of submissions.
  • Division of forms by department (HR, IT, Administration).
  • Tracking of submission status.
The window with article editing and writing support from the AI assistant in the ready-to-use Droptica intranet.

Content supported by AI

Use artificial intelligence for creating structured content on the platform faster. Our intranet system can suggest texts for news or articles, improving team communication and relieving the burden on content managers.

Available functionalities:

  • Suggestions for headlines, leads and key phrases.
  • Personalization of content based on user roles.
  • Support in language proofreading.
Screen showing sample comments on the intranet, which are social interactions for employees.

Social networking features

Engage employees through comments, and likes. Social networking capabilities encourage the sharing of ideas and feedback, instant messaging among workers, and building a culture of open internal communication in your company.

Screen showing the responsiveness of Droptica's intranet through how it displays on desktop and mobile.

Responsive design

Give users access to the modern intranet platform from any device with a user-friendly interface. Our platform works equally well on computers, tablets and smartphones, ensuring that employees in the office and in the field always stay connected.

Droptica intranet login window, integrated with LDAP, Google and Microsoft accounts.

Integration with Google, Microsoft and LDAP

Simplify user authentication and access to the intranet platform. Our system integrates with services such as LDAP/Active Directory, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365. This enables employees to securely log in with single sign-on. As a result, organizations retain full control over access while users benefit from the convenience of not having to remember multiple passwords.

A window on the Open Intranet with a view of an article's "must read" feature.

“Must Read” feature for articles

Highlight critical announcements that employees must read and confirm. This way, HR and internal communications teams gain visibility into who has seen the message and who hasn't, allowing them to effectively follow up on important information.

Available functionalities:

  • Option to mark messages as “Must Read.”
  • “Mark as Read” button displayed to users on selected content.
  • Reporting with a detailed view of who read the message, when they did it, and who hasn’t opened it yet.
  • Email reminders to users who haven’t read the message.
A report view in the Open Intranet system that shows users reading "must read" content.

Statistics and reports

Gain insight into user activity and communication effectiveness in your intranet system.

Available functionalities:

  • “Must-read messages” reports.
  • Employee engagement statistics.
  • Analysis of most viewed content.
A dashboard in the Open Intranet system that can be configured according to the user's needs.

Clear dashboard

View tasks, calendars, reports or messages from the convenience of your intranet dashboard. Personalize the appearance of the display panel at will.

Available functionalities:

  • Quick access to the key intranet functions.
  • Dedicated blocks for users.
  • Editable dashboard layout.
  • Integrations with intranet modules.
A section for setting roles and permissions in the Open Intranet system.

Intranet permissions and access

Manage security and content access according to your organization's needs.

Available functionalities:

  • Roles: administrator, editor, user.
  • Access control at content and document level.
  • Visibility restrictions by department, office or role.
  • Flexible content visibility settings (“who can see what”).
A view of search results on the Open Intranet open source intranet.

Search engine and navigation

Save time by finding the content you need in seconds with a smart search engine on your intranet system.

Available functionalities:

  • Full-text search in documents, articles and profiles.
  • Filtering of results by content type, department, author.
  • Presentation of thumbnails in search results.
  • Browsing history (“Recently read”).
The open source intranet supports international environments, thanks to Drupal's multilingual settings.

Multilingual open source intranet

Working in an international team? Create and share content in multiple languages.

Available functionalities:

  • Support for multiple language versions of a single content.
  • Intuitive user language switching.
  • Automatic language suggestion based on localization.

Open source intranet – a smarter alternative to SharePoint

SharePoint is powerful – but expensive. With Open Intranet, you get the same key features without paying for every user.

No license fees and unlimited users

Open Intranet is completely free to use – there are no per-user fees or license limitations. Whether your team has 10 or 10,000 users, the cost remains unchanged. This makes it ideal for growing organizations that need predictable and scalable infrastructure.

Full control over your data

You decide where and how your intranet is hosted – whether on your internal servers or with a cloud provider in the EU. Your company retains 100% ownership of all content and user data. There’s no vendor lock-in or hidden data transfers to third-party systems.

High level of security

Built on Drupal, a CMS trusted by governments and large organizations worldwide, the Open Intranet inherits strong security foundations. It benefits from frequent security updates and a transparent, open-source codebase. Your IT team can review every line of code, so there are no security black boxes.

Fast start with basic features

The intranet system comes with ready-made modules for company news, document sharing, employee directory, internal search, and other team collaboration tools. You can deploy a functional intranet in just a few days without building everything from scratch. This allows your team to start using key features of a digital workplace almost immediately while planning further development.

Lower total cost of ownership

There are no ongoing license fees, and you only invest in what you actually need – such as intranet development, integration, or support. You can expand the system gradually, based on your team’s priorities and budget. This results in a significantly lower long-term cost compared to proprietary solutions.

Flexible, open source code

Built on Drupal, our intranet platform gives you full access to a robust, open source content management system (CMS) with a large ecosystem of modules, an active community, and countless integrations. You can easily implement SSO, add custom content types, or adjust the layout to match your branding – all to build a digital workplace tailored to your organization. The system is developer-friendly and designed for easy customization.

Book a free intranet demo

Curious about what an intranet software could actually do for your team? Let’s jump on a quick, no-strings call and walk you through Open Intranet—our open-source platform. We’ll show you live how it tidies up day-to-day communication, and foster collaboration in your company. 

Ask for a free, personalized demo.

Technologies and requirements of an open source intranet

The Open Intranet solution is a fully open source intranet system based on Drupal 10 – a powerful and flexible content management framework trusted by thousands of organizations worldwide. The system is designed for easy customization, scalability, and integration with existing internal tools.

Droptica's team using the social intranet during the internal meeting.

System requirements

To install and run Open Intranet, you need a standard web server environment with:

✔️ PHP 8.1 or higher

✔️ MySQL 5.7+ or PostgreSQL 12+

✔️ Composer (for dependency management)

✔️ Compatible with standard PHP web servers (e.g. Apache or Nginx)

✔️ Recommended: DDEV (for local development and quick setup)

You can install the system locally using DDEV or deploy it to your own cloud or on-premise infrastructure. For detailed steps, visit our installation guide.

 

Technology stack

Discover our open source intranet software in terms of technology:

✔️ CMS: Drupal 10 – a powerful content management framework

✔️ Frontend: responsive theme using modern HTML5/CSS3

✔️ Database: MySQL / PostgreSQL

✔️ Hosting: compatible with on-premise and cloud environments (incl. EU-based providers)

✔️ Authentication: supports LDAP, Active Directory, SSO

✔️ AI integration: optional AI-powered features for content generation

Droptica specialists carrying out tailored social intranet solution after the first stages of the project.

Seamless integrations

Our open source intranet software can be integrated with various enterprise tools and third party applications:

✔️ Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 – for calendar, documents, user data,

✔️ HR systems – for synchronizing employee directories and leave records,

✔️ CRM/ERP tools – for accessing structured company data,

✔️ Project management platforms – for dashboards, task management, workflows, and enhanced collaboration tools,

✔️ APIs – to build custom connections with internal or external systems (such as content management solutions).

 

AI-powered features

Our open source intranet solution includes optional AI-assisted content generation, allowing editors to:

  • Get suggestions for news posts and internal updates.
  • Speed up relevant content creating for knowledge bases and announcements.
  • Reduce the workload of internal teams who manage communication in the company and help build a more efficient digital workplace.

Intranet specification – plan your open source implementation

Download a document that will help you plan the implementation of an open source intranet, such as Open Intranet. It includes a set of features that are ready to be adapted to your organization. 

This is a good starting point if you want to expand your intranet with additional modules or tailor it to your processes. 

The file can be modified as needed.

Droptica specialists carrying out tailored open source intranet after the first stages of the project.

Who is Open Intranet for?

Our open source intranet software is ideal for organizations that want full control over their internal platform and have the technical capacity to manage it independently. It’s a flexible solution designed for teams that value transparency, autonomy, and scalability.
 

IT teams and in-house DevOps

If your organization has its own infrastructure or tech department with the necessary technical expertise, our open source intranet solution gives you the freedom to build and run your intranet your way. You can host it where you want, configure user access, extend the platform with custom features, and keep everything aligned with your internal policies.

Developers and Drupal professionals

Open Intranet is built on Drupal 10 and structured as a starter kit, making it an excellent choice for developers who want to accelerate intranet growth. Instead of building from scratch, you get a ready-made foundation with modular components, flexible content types, and support for modern dev workflows like Git and DDEV.

Nonprofits and public sector organizations

NGOs, universities, and public institutions often look for reliable intranet solutions without recurring license fees. Open Intranet offers all the essential features for collaboration and internal communication helping teams manage tasks more efficiently while allowing full control over data storage, security, and hosting location – including EU-based servers.

Companies with on-premise or cloud infrastructure

If your organization prefers to manage systems internally or use a trusted cloud provider, Open Intranet is a safe and scalable option. It works well in enterprise environments that require integration with existing tools like Microsoft 365, or LDAP/SSO – all without vendor lock-in or usage limits, making it a powerful foundation for a digital workplace.

Find out how our intranet solves 13 communication problems

Discover our blog post to learn how to share company knowledge with all employees, set up a reporting system for departments like HR and IT, create a company calendar, and more. 

Read our article
How to solve internal communication issues in a company with Open Intranet?

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Open Intranet

Open Intranet is a free, open source intranet system built on Drupal 10. It’s delivered as a ready-to-use starter kit with preconfigured modules for internal communication, knowledge sharing, and team collaboration. You can install and run it independently, without licensing fees or vendor lock-in. 

Our intranet is based on Drupal 10 (PHP 8) – if you implement it yourself (open source), you'll need a server with PHP/MySQL (or PostgreSQL) support. In the case of the cloud and on-premise versions, we take care of the entire infrastructure, so from the client's side, only a web browser and internet access for users are needed. The system works in a browser - it doesn't require installation on employees' computers.

Yes. Open Intranet supports integration with tools such as Active Directory, LDAP, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365. It also offers API support for connecting to CRMs, HR systems, or project management platforms.

Yes. You can integrate our open source platform with SSO providers via standard Drupal modules. Authentication through LDAP, Azure AD, or other identity services is supported out of the box.

Yes – the product includes basic AI-supported content creation features. Editors can use built-in tools to generate suggestions for news posts or announcements, reducing the time needed to produce internal content.

Yes. Once the system is installed and configured, editors and employees can use it like a typical web platform. The interface is intuitive and responsive, with familiar UX patterns from modern websites.

No. Open Intranet is free to download and use under an open source license. There are no license fees or limits on the number of users. You only need to cover infrastructure, internal maintenance, and any optional custom development.

Yes. The system is actively developed and maintained by Droptica, with new features and improvements published regularly. Community feedback is welcome – you can share your ideas using the feedback form.

Yes. You can freely extend the features based on Drupal (a solid content management system) by adding custom modules, modifying the layout, or integrating with additional systems – thanks to its open source foundation. If you need help with more complex features or design changes, you can also use our Intranet Development Service to get expert support and tailor the solution to your organization.

Need help with setup or custom features?

Open Intranet is a free, open source software to download and install – but you don’t have to do everything on your own. If you prefer a ready-to-use version in the cloud, or want to customize the system to your organization’s needs, our team can help.

We offer cloud-based hosting with updates and technical support, custom implementation and integration services, and dedicated feature development and design. Talk to us to choose the right solution!

Book a free consultation