Stirling PDF
Document ManagementPowerful locally hosted web-based PDF toolkit
Replaces Adobe Acrobat, Smallpdf
Best Free Document Management for self-hosting
The 29 best Free document management you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
Paperless-ngx
Document ManagementDocument management for scanning, indexing and archiving
Replaces Evernote, DEVONthink
OCRmyPDF
Document ManagementAdd a searchable OCR text layer to scanned PDFs
Replaces Adobe Acrobat
BentoPDF
Document ManagementPowerful, privacy-first, client-side PDF toolkit that allows you
Replaces Adobe Acrobat
Gotenberg
Document ManagementAPI for converting documents to PDF
Replaces Adobe PDF Services
OpenSign
Document ManagementDocument signing software (alternative to DocuSign)
Paperless-AI
Document ManagementAutomated AI tagging and analysis for Paperless-ngx
Replaces DocuWare
Teedy
Document ManagementOpen-source document management system for teams
Replaces Evernote, SharePoint
Aleph
Document ManagementSearch and document management for investigative work
Replaces DocuWare, Relativity
Paperwork
Document ManagementPersonal document scanner and indexer for paperless homes
Replaces Evernote
Docspell
Document ManagementPersonal document organizer with automatic metadata
Replaces Evernote, DEVONthink
Form.io
Document ManagementForm and document data management platform
Replaces DocuSign, Jotform
Open Semantic Search
Document ManagementSearch engine and text mining for document archives
Replaces DocuWare, M-Files
DSpace
Document ManagementTurnkey repository application providing durable access to digital
Signature PDF
Document ManagementSign and manipulate PDFs with collaboration, organization, compression
Archivematica
Document ManagementDigital preservation system for long-term archives
Replaces Preservica
EveryDocs
Document ManagementSimple Document Management System for private use with basic
I, Librarian
Document ManagementOrganize PDF papers and office documents
Plone
Document ManagementEnterprise CMS and document repository with strong security
Replaces SharePoint
OpenDocMan
Document ManagementFree web-based document management system in PHP
Replaces DocuWare, M-Files
Fedora Commons Repository
Document ManagementRobust and modular repository system for the management
PDFKeeper
Document ManagementOpen-source PDF document management system
Replaces DEVONthink, Mayan EDMS
Samvera Hyrax
Document ManagementFront-end for the Samvera framework, which itself is a Ruby on Rails
SeedDMS
Document ManagementEasy-to-use web-based document management system
Replaces SharePoint, M-Files
InvenioRDM
Document ManagementHighly scalable turn-key research data management platform
Islandora
Document ManagementDrupal module for browsing and managing Fedora-based digital
Hypha
Document ManagementSelf-hosted application and grant management platform
Replaces SmartSimple
Krystal DMS
Document ManagementWeb-based document management system in Java
Replaces DocuWare
EPrints
Document ManagementDigital document management system with a flexible metadata
No apps match these filters.
At a glance
| App | Deploy effort | Difficulty | Min. RAM | License | ★ Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stirling PDF | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 512 MB | MIT | 94,157 |
| Paperless-ngx | ≈5-minute setup | Medium | 2,048 MB | GPL-3.0 | 46,640 |
| OCRmyPDF | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 512 MB | MPL-2.0 | 35,016 |
| BentoPDF | ≈5-minute setup | Medium | 512 MB | AGPL-3.0 | 16,021 |
| Gotenberg | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 512 MB | MIT | 13,276 |
| OpenSign | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | AGPL-3.0 | 7,094 |
| Paperless-AI | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | MIT | 5,977 |
| Teedy | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 1,024 MB | GPL-2.0 | 2,568 |
| Aleph | Under-an-hour setup | Hard | 4,096 MB | MIT | 2,446 |
| Paperwork | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 512 MB | GPL-3.0 | 2,400 |
Quick picks
- Most adopted: Stirling PDF (94,157 GitHub stars).
- Lightest footprint: Stirling PDF (from 512 MB RAM, against 4,096 MB for the heaviest here).
- Fastest to deploy: Paperless-ngx (verified single-container compose).
- Licensing: 9 of 29 use GPL-3.0; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Free within the document management category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.