Paperless-AI 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?
Paperless-AI
Automated AI tagging and analysis for Paperless-ngx
VS
Samvera Hyrax
Front-end for the Samvera framework, which itself is a Ruby on Rails
| Feature | Paperless-AI | Samvera Hyrax |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Document Management | Document Management |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,883 | ★ 202 |
| First released | 2024 | 2026 |
| Replaces | DocuWare | — |
Why pick each one
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
Choose Samvera Hyrax if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Written in Ruby
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Paperless-AI or Samvera Hyrax 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 Paperless-AI and Samvera Hyrax free and open-source?
Yes. Paperless-AI is licensed under MIT and Samvera Hyrax under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Paperless-AI and Samvera Hyrax with Docker?
Paperless-AI: yes. Samvera Hyrax: check the project docs for container support.