Ambar vs OpenKM Community
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted document management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Ambar | OpenKM Community |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Archived | Archived |
| Category | Document Management | Document Management |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,943 | ★ 849 |
| First released | 2017 | 2006 |
| Replaces | DocuWare, M-Files | DocuWare, SharePoint |
What are Ambar and OpenKM Community?
Ambar
Ambar is an open-source document search engine that automatically crawls, OCRs, and indexes documents from configured sources. It provides a fast unified search across many file types.
- Automatic document crawling
- OCR on images and PDFs
- Unified full-text search
- Tagging and labels
OpenKM Community
OpenKM is an enterprise content management system with a community edition for storing and managing documents and records. It offers workflows, metadata, OCR, and granular security controls.
- Workflow automation
- Metadata and records management
- OCR and full-text search
- Fine-grained security
Ambar vs OpenKM Community: key differences
Note that both projects' repositories are archived — neither is actively developed. Ambar is written in JavaScript, while OpenKM Community is built with Java. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Ambar versus GPL-2.0 for OpenKM Community. OpenKM Community is the more established project (first released 2006), while Ambar arrived in 2017. Ambar has the considerably larger community, at 1,943 GitHub stars versus 849.
Why pick each one
Choose Ambar if…
- Fast search across many sources
- Good OCR coverage
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Elasticsearch increases memory needs
Choose OpenKM Community if…
- Comprehensive enterprise features
- Mature platform
Watch out for
- Heavy resource use
- Complex administration
Frequently asked questions
Is Ambar or OpenKM Community better?
Ambar is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider OpenKM Community if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Ambar and OpenKM Community free and open-source?
Yes. Ambar is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OpenKM Community under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ambar and OpenKM Community with Docker?
Ambar: yes. OpenKM Community: yes.