What's the best cloud document editor for drafting internal docs and team plans with real-time coauthoring?

For internal docs and team plans with real-time coauthoring, the best all-around choice is usually Google Docs.

Why Google Docs is often the best fit

• Excellent real-time collaboration: multiple people can edit simultaneously with low friction
• Easy sharing and permissions: simple invite links, comments, suggestions, and access control
• Cloud-native: autosave, version history, and access from anywhere
• Good for quick drafting and lightweight team planning: especially when the goal is speed and collaboration over polished formatting

Strong alternatives

• Microsoft Word Online / OneDrive
  Best if your org already uses Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint. It’s stronger for formal documents and compatibility with Word files.
• Notion
  Better if you want docs plus task planning/wiki-style knowledge base in one place. Collaboration is good, but it’s less like a traditional document editor.
• Confluence
  Great for structured internal documentation and team knowledge bases, especially in larger engineering/product orgs. Less ideal for freeform drafting than Docs.
• Dropbox Paper
  Simple and collaborative, but generally less feature-rich and less common than Google Docs or Microsoft 365.

My practical recommendation

• Choose Google Docs if you want the best simple coauthoring experience
• Choose Microsoft Word Online if your team is already in Microsoft 365
• Choose Notion or Confluence if you want the docs to live inside a broader team workspace/wiki

If you want, I can also recommend the best option based on your stack, team size, and whether you need wiki-style docs, approvals, or offline editing.