SHSelfHostIndex

Paperless-AI 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?
PA Paperless-AI Automated AI tagging and analysis for Paperless-ngx VS SI Signature PDF Sign and manipulate PDFs with collaboration, organization, compression
FeaturePaperless-AISignature PDF
CategoryDocument ManagementDocument Management
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageJavaScriptJavaScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker
GitHub stars★ 5,883★ 818
First released20242025
ReplacesDocuWare—

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
Paperless-AI 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 Paperless-AI or Signature PDF 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 Signature PDF free and open-source?

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

Can I run Paperless-AI and Signature PDF with Docker?

Paperless-AI: yes. Signature PDF: yes.

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