Ambar vs SeedDMS
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted document management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Ambar | SeedDMS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Document Management | Document Management |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,943 | ★ 200 |
| First released | 2017 | 2010 |
| Replaces | DocuWare, M-Files | SharePoint, M-Files |
What are Ambar and SeedDMS?
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
SeedDMS
SeedDMS is an open-source web-based document management system that is easy to install and use. It supports versioning, access control, notifications, and full-text search for small and medium teams.
- Document versioning
- Fine-grained permissions
- Full-text search
- Email notifications
Ambar vs SeedDMS: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Ambar's repository is archived and no longer developed, while SeedDMS is actively maintained. Ambar is written in JavaScript, while SeedDMS is built with PHP. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Ambar versus GPL-2.0 for SeedDMS. SeedDMS is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Ambar. SeedDMS is the more established project (first released 2010), while Ambar arrived in 2017. Ambar has the considerably larger community, at 1,943 GitHub stars versus 200.
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 SeedDMS if…
- Quick to deploy
- Approachable interface
Watch out for
- Hosted mainly on SourceForge
- Dated UI
Frequently asked questions
Is Ambar or SeedDMS better?
Neither is universally better. Ambar has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Ambar and SeedDMS free and open-source?
Yes. Ambar is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SeedDMS under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Ambar and SeedDMS with Docker?
Ambar: yes. SeedDMS: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Ambar or SeedDMS?
SeedDMS has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Ambar. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.