Documenso vs Samvera Hyrax
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?
Documenso
The open-source DocuSign alternative
VS
Samvera Hyrax
Front-end for the Samvera framework, which itself is a Ruby on Rails
| Feature | Documenso | Samvera Hyrax |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Document Management | Document Management |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,295 | ★ 202 |
| First released | 2023 | 2026 |
| Replaces | DocuSign, Adobe Sign | — |
Why pick each one
Choose Samvera Hyrax if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Written in Ruby
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Documenso or Samvera Hyrax better?
Neither is universally better. Documenso has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Documenso and Samvera Hyrax free and open-source?
Yes. Documenso is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Samvera Hyrax under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Documenso and Samvera Hyrax with Docker?
Documenso: yes. Samvera Hyrax: check the project docs for container support.