SHSelfHostIndex

OCRmyPDF vs Signature PDF

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?
OC OCRmyPDF Add a searchable OCR text layer to scanned PDFs VS SI Signature PDF Sign and manipulate PDFs with collaboration, organization, compression
FeatureOCRmyPDFSignature PDF
CategoryDocument ManagementDocument Management
LicenseMPL-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguagePythonJavaScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, bare-metaldocker
GitHub stars★ 34,391★ 818
First released20152025
ReplacesAdobe Acrobat—

Why pick each one

Choose OCRmyPDF if…

  • Excellent OCR results
  • Composes well with other tools
OCRmyPDF details

Choose Signature PDF if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in JavaScript
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Signature PDF details

Frequently asked questions

Is OCRmyPDF or Signature PDF better?

OCRmyPDF is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Signature PDF if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are OCRmyPDF and Signature PDF free and open-source?

Yes. OCRmyPDF is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Signature PDF under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run OCRmyPDF and Signature PDF with Docker?

OCRmyPDF: yes. Signature PDF: yes.

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