SHSelfHostIndex

Aleph vs Stirling PDF

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted document management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
AL Aleph Search and document management for investigative work VS ST Stirling PDF Powerful locally hosted web-based PDF toolkit
FeatureAlephStirling PDF
CategoryDocument ManagementDocument Management
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageJavaScriptJava
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM4,096 MB512 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 2,412★ 89,077
First released20162023
ReplacesDocuWare, RelativityAdobe Acrobat, Smallpdf

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
Aleph details

Choose Stirling PDF if…

  • Keeps documents private
  • Huge range of features
Stirling PDF details

Frequently asked questions

Is Aleph or Stirling PDF better?

Stirling PDF is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Aleph if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Aleph and Stirling PDF free and open-source?

Yes. Aleph is licensed under MIT and Stirling PDF under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Aleph and Stirling PDF with Docker?

Aleph: yes. Stirling PDF: yes.

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