Aleph vs OpenDocMan
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted document management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Aleph | OpenDocMan |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 61 · Good | 77 · Good |
| Category | Document Management | Document Management |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | bare-metal, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,437 | ★ 283 |
| First released | 2016 | 2004 |
| Replaces | DocuWare, Relativity | DocuWare, M-Files |
What are Aleph and OpenDocMan?
Aleph
Aleph is an open-source tool for indexing, searching, and cross-referencing large collections of documents and structured data, built for investigative journalism. It performs OCR, entity extraction, and link analysis across archives.
- OCR and text extraction
- Entity cross-referencing
- Full-text document search
- Investigative archives
OpenDocMan
OpenDocMan is an open-source, web-based document management system written in PHP. It features fine-grained access control, automated check-in and check-out, and file metadata management.
- Fine-grained file access control
- Check-in and check-out
- File metadata and categories
- LDAP support
Aleph vs OpenDocMan: key differences
Aleph is written in JavaScript, while OpenDocMan is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Aleph versus GPL-2.0 for OpenDocMan. OpenDocMan is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Aleph. OpenDocMan is the more established project (first released 2004), while Aleph arrived in 2016. Aleph has the considerably larger community, at 2,437 GitHub stars versus 283.
Why pick each one
Choose Aleph if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Choose OpenDocMan if…
- Runs on a standard LAMP stack
- Simple to deploy
Watch out for
- Dated interface
- Limited modern features
Frequently asked questions
Is Aleph or OpenDocMan better?
Neither is universally better. Aleph has the larger community, while OpenDocMan is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Aleph and OpenDocMan free and open-source?
Yes. Aleph is licensed under MIT and OpenDocMan under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Aleph and OpenDocMan with Docker?
Aleph: yes. OpenDocMan: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Aleph or OpenDocMan?
OpenDocMan has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Aleph. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.