Collabora Online vs Papermerge

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?
FeatureCollabora OnlinePapermerge
CategoryDocument ManagementDocument Management
LicenseMPL-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageShellPython
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 3,316★ 521
First released20152017
ReplacesGoogle Docs, Microsoft 365Evernote, DEVONthink

Why pick each one

Choose Collabora Online if…

  • Strong ODF support
  • Mature LibreOffice engine
Collabora Online details

Choose Papermerge if…

  • Familiar folder structure
  • Good PDF handling
Papermerge details

Frequently asked questions

Is Collabora Online or Papermerge better?

Neither is universally better. Collabora Online has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Collabora Online and Papermerge free and open-source?

Yes. Collabora Online is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Papermerge under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Collabora Online and Papermerge with Docker?

Collabora Online: yes. Papermerge: yes.

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