Compare / Paperless-ngx vs Papra
Paperless-ngx vs Papra
Pick Paperless-ngx if you want the well-known OCR document-management system (Django). Pick Papra if you want a smaller AGPL TypeScript archive with Docker, search, and ingestion.
Facts checked 18 Oct 2026. License, language, and GitHub activity come from the catalog or the project's own repo. "Not in the catalog row" means the public catalog dump does not store that number.
Paperless-ngx in the catalog Papra in the catalogStart on Railway
How they compare
| Paperless-ngx | Papra | |
|---|---|---|
| License | GPL-3.0 (catalog) source | AGPL-3.0 (catalog) source |
| Language | Python (catalog) | TypeScript (catalog) |
| GitHub activity | 46,640 stars in the catalog source | 5,569 stars, pushed 18 Oct 2026 (not in the catalog row) source |
| Self-host | Compose: consume, web, Redis, DB, tika/gotenberg as documented. | Docker. Search, tags, email/folder ingestion (repo README). |
| Best for | A paperless mailbox with OCR. | A smaller AGPL archive if Paperless feels heavy. |
Self-hosting and resource needs
Paperless-ngx is GPL-3.0 Python (paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx): scan, OCR, tag, archive. Papra is AGPL-3.0 (papra-hq/papra): full-text search, tagging, email/folder ingestion, Docker. Neither is Acrobat. PDF tools stay on /stacks/stirling-pdf. Do not invent OCR accuracy numbers.
FAQ
- Is this Adobe Acrobat?
- No. Stirling PDF is the toolbox on /replace/acrobat. This pair is an archive for PDFs you keep.
- Nextcloud instead?
- Nextcloud is a Drive suite. Paperless-ngx/Papra are document archives with OCR/search.
- Are these free?
- Paperless-ngx is GPL-3.0. Papra is AGPL-3.0. You pay disk and hosting.
- How do I deploy it?
- Follow each project's compose. Persist the consume/media volume. Stirling PDF remains /stacks/stirling-pdf for editing PDFs.
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