Koel vs Paperless-ngx
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories
— licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one
replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Compare Koel with
choose an app… Free Programming Books Immich Jellyfin PhotoPrism qBittorrent SRS KOReader Ente Photos Koodo Reader Calibre DeepFace Readest Navidrome Kodi Ebook2audiobook gallery-dl Calibre-Web Jackett Beets DeDRM Tools PeerTube Transmission Sonarr MeTube Radarr Audiobookshelf Color Thief darktable Stash Stremio Web Seerr Owncast Kavita Thumbor Streama Feishin Ladder Wikidpad Notes Mopidy Tube Archivist LibrePhotos Snapcast Prowlarr Tautulli Photoview imaginary Google Photos Takeout Helper Jellyfin Media Player Lidarr Pinchflat Streamyfin MediaCMS Overseerr Emby musikcube Ant Media Server Community Edition Jellyfin for Android TV Black Candy Sonus Note - Black Candy Qui Tdarr Findroid Bazarr Finamp Ombi Dim Swiftfin Plex AzuraCast Strawberry Music Player Ampache Dispatcharr Headphones Moodist Ryot Tvheadend Yamtrack OvenMediaEngine Wizarr SABnzbd Music Assistant ytdl-sub ErsatzTV Flood TubeSync mpd Polaris Funkwhale Universal Media Server NymphCast yt-dlp Web UI OwnTone Profilarr Tunarr Gonic Kyoo Fladder Unmanic Jellystat mStream Reiverr Jellyfin MPV Shim Broadcast Box Supersonic xTeVe Tempo Maintainerr Recyclarr Airsonic Swing Music Podgrab Sonixd Musicn Maloja Lyrion Music Server Quod Libet Jellyfin Vue Threadfin Amperfy LMS CyTube Cross-Seed ViewTube WatchYourLAN Note - CineMatic Watcharr Fireshare Airsonic-Advanced moOde audio player Gerbera nefarious Mopidy-Iris Meelo multi-scrobbler MyTube Whisparr Castopod PinePods LibreTime Rapidbay Karaoke Eternal Audioserve CodeX.docs Movary Cinemataztic Note Webtrees-no Kitsu Self-Hosted Reaparr Stretto Icecast Lidify ympd myMPD Lidarr on Steroids LinkStack MistServer Ultrasonic PodFetch Airsonic-Refix Downtify SyncTube vod2pod-rss LidaTube Deleterr ChannelTube Stremio Server YoutubeDL-Server gpodder.net (mygpo) Olaris Supysonic AntennaPod gpodder Sync Server Nextcloud GPodder ydl_api_ng Jellyfin for Roku RompR MiniDLNA Rygel Submariner cmyflix Cantata Stream Master OctoStream Note - mediarr OliveTin-no ClipBucket Snapweb BotWave Audinaut Sublime Music NextPVR Volumio MKVPriority Podverse TrackWatch tinyMediaManager Vibin Note - Beatbump alt Murmur-no Channels DVR Server Deemix Deluge Just. Download. Sickchill Stalwart Mail Subsonic Tube VideoLAN Client (VLC) üWave
Compare Paperless-ngx with
choose an app… Free Programming Books AppFlowy Joplin Jellyfin SiYuan qBittorrent Trilium Notes Khoj SRS KOReader Koodo Reader Calibre Notable Readest Navidrome Kodi Obsidian Ebook2audiobook Calibre-Web Jackett Beets DeDRM Tools PeerTube Transmission Sonarr Notesnook MeTube VNote Kavita Laverna Ladder Wikidpad Notes Reor nb Notes Suwayomi-Server OPDS-PSE Reader Hub Sigil Open Library Komga Calibre-Web Automated Libation Markor Sync QOwnNotes PDF Arranger pdf2htmlEX Librum TagSpaces Papra 13ft Mindforger Web CherryTree Calibre-Web Automated Book Downloader Readarr Archivy Flatnotes LANraragi Dnote Thorium Reader BookWyrm Stump Teedy OpenBooks Docspell Mango Plato Standard Ebooks Tools Whisparr Audiobook Storyteller Mylar3 Kapowarr ttu Ebook Reader mangadex-downloader Librivox Mirror Zimit ComicTagger Audiobookshelf-tools Komf kobodl BookLogr Koha Suwayomi manga-py Papermerge Upvote RSS Buchhaltung Books BicBucStriim Tranga Tinyfeed EpubPress KOHighlights PDFKeeper Booksonic-Air ProsePub Manga-Tagger Atsumeru Evergreen Kthoom COPS dir2opds RERO ILS MangAdventure MyMangaDB Readflow Inkheart Petrolette Ubooquity Vore
Feature Koel Paperless-ngx Category Media Servers E-books & Media Library License MIT GPL-3.0 Language PHP Python Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 512 MB 2,048 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal docker, bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 17,208 ★ 44,077 First released 2016 2022 Replaces Spotify Evernote, DEVONthink
Why pick each one
Choose Koel if… Beautiful interface Active community Koel details
Frequently asked questions Is Koel or Paperless-ngx better? Neither is universally better. Paperless-ngx has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Koel and Paperless-ngx free and open-source? Yes. Koel is licensed under MIT and Paperless-ngx under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Koel and Paperless-ngx with Docker? Koel: yes. Paperless-ngx: yes.