Docspell vs PDFKeeper
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted document management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Docspell
Personal document organizer with automatic metadata
VS
PDFKeeper
Open-source PDF document management system
| Feature | Docspell | PDFKeeper |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 72 · Good | 75 · Good |
| Category | Document Management | Document Management |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Elm | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,333 | ★ 242 |
| First released | 2019 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Evernote, DEVONthink | DEVONthink, Mayan EDMS |
What are Docspell and PDFKeeper?
Docspell
Docspell is a personal document organizer that automatically suggests tags, correspondents, and dates for uploaded files. It performs OCR and full-text search so you can quickly find any document.
- Automatic metadata suggestions
- OCR and full-text search
- Correspondent detection
- Multi-user support
PDFKeeper
PDFKeeper is an open-source PDF document management system for capturing, storing, organizing, and retrieving PDF documents. It supports full-text search and runs against an Oracle or PostgreSQL database backend.
- PDF capture and organization
- Full-text search
- PostgreSQL or Oracle backend
- Cross-platform desktop client
Docspell vs PDFKeeper: key differences
Docspell is written in Elm, while PDFKeeper is built with C#. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Docspell versus GPL-3.0 for PDFKeeper. PDFKeeper is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Docspell. PDFKeeper is the more established project (first released 2014), while Docspell arrived in 2019. Docspell has the considerably larger community, at 2,333 GitHub stars versus 242. Docspell lists first-class Docker deployment; PDFKeeper does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Docspell if…
- Smart automatic organization
- Powerful search
Watch out for
- JVM memory usage
- Multiple components to run
Choose PDFKeeper if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in C#
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Docspell or PDFKeeper better?
Neither is universally better. Docspell has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Docspell and PDFKeeper free and open-source?
Yes. Docspell is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and PDFKeeper under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Docspell and PDFKeeper with Docker?
Docspell: yes. PDFKeeper: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Docspell or PDFKeeper?
PDFKeeper has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Docspell. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.