Aleph vs Paperless-AI
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted document management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Aleph | Paperless-AI |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 61 · Good | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Document Management | Document Management |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,437 | ★ 5,952 |
| First released | 2016 | 2024 |
| Replaces | DocuWare, Relativity | DocuWare |
What are Aleph and Paperless-AI?
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
Paperless-AI
Paperless-AI is a companion service for Paperless-ngx that uses large language models to automatically analyze, tag, and categorize scanned documents. It connects to a Paperless-ngx instance and enriches documents with AI-generated metadata.
- AI-powered tagging
- Automatic categorization
- Paperless-ngx integration
- Document chat
Aleph vs Paperless-AI: key differences
Both projects are written in JavaScript. Paperless-AI is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Aleph. Aleph is the more established project (first released 2016), while Paperless-AI arrived in 2024. Paperless-AI has the considerably larger community, at 5,952 GitHub stars versus 2,437.
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 Paperless-AI if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Aleph or Paperless-AI better?
Paperless-AI is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Aleph if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Aleph and Paperless-AI free and open-source?
Yes. Aleph is licensed under MIT and Paperless-AI under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Aleph and Paperless-AI with Docker?
Aleph: yes. Paperless-AI: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Aleph or Paperless-AI?
Paperless-AI 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.