SHSelfHostIndex

Ladder vs PDF Arranger

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-books & media library options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
LA Ladder Bypass paywalls as 12ft.io does VS PD PDF Arranger Desktop tool to merge, split, and rearrange PDF pages
FeatureLadderPDF Arranger
CategoryE-books & Media LibraryE-books & Media Library
LicenseGPL-3.0-onlyGPL-3.0
LanguageGoPython
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM20 MB256 MB
Deploymentbare-metalbare-metal, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 8,804★ 5,760
First released20232019
Replaces12ft, 13ftAdobe Acrobat, PDFsam

Why pick each one

Choose Ladder if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0-only license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Mature project with 8.8k GitHub stars
  • Written in Go
Ladder details

Choose PDF Arranger if…

  • Simple and reliable
  • Cross-platform
PDF Arranger details

Frequently asked questions

Is Ladder or PDF Arranger better?

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

Are Ladder and PDF Arranger free and open-source?

Yes. Ladder is licensed under GPL-3.0-only and PDF Arranger under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Ladder and PDF Arranger with Docker?

Ladder: check the project docs for container support. PDF Arranger: check the project docs for container support.

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