SHSelfHostIndex

Islandora vs Paperless-AI

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?
IS Islandora Drupal module for browsing and managing Fedora-based digital VS PA Paperless-AI Automated AI tagging and analysis for Paperless-ngx
FeatureIslandoraPaperless-AI
CategoryDocument ManagementDocument Management
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguagePHPJavaScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metaldocker
GitHub stars★ 157★ 5,883
First released20262024
Replaces—DocuWare

Why pick each one

Choose Islandora if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Written in PHP
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Islandora details

Choose Paperless-AI if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 5.9k GitHub stars
  • Written in JavaScript
Paperless-AI details

Frequently asked questions

Is Islandora or Paperless-AI better?

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

Are Islandora and Paperless-AI free and open-source?

Yes. Islandora is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Paperless-AI under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Islandora and Paperless-AI with Docker?

Islandora: check the project docs for container support. Paperless-AI: yes.

Related comparisons