Paperless-ngx vs Papermerge
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted document management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Paperless-ngx
Document management for scanning, indexing and archiving
VS
Papermerge
Document management system for scanned documents
| Feature | Paperless-ngx | Papermerge |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 70 · Good |
| Category | Document Management | Document Management |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 45,960 | ★ 538 |
| First released | 2022 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Evernote, DEVONthink | Evernote, DEVONthink |
What are Paperless-ngx and Papermerge?
Paperless-ngx
Paperless-ngx is a community-supported document management system that transforms physical documents into a searchable digital archive. It performs OCR, automatic tagging, and full-text indexing of all your paperwork.
- Automatic OCR processing
- Smart tagging and matching
- Full-text search
- Document archiving
Papermerge
Papermerge is an open-source document management system designed for scanned documents and PDFs. It provides OCR, a folder-based hierarchy, tags, and full-text search across all documents.
- OCR for scanned documents
- Folder hierarchy
- Document versioning
- Full-text search
Paperless-ngx vs Papermerge: key differences
Both projects are written in Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Paperless-ngx versus Apache-2.0 for Papermerge. Papermerge is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Paperless-ngx. Papermerge is the more established project (first released 2017), while Paperless-ngx arrived in 2022. Paperless-ngx has the considerably larger community, at 45,960 GitHub stars versus 538.
Why pick each one
Choose Paperless-ngx if…
- Excellent for paperless offices
- Very active community
Watch out for
- Resource intensive
- Initial tuning required
Choose Papermerge if…
- Familiar folder structure
- Good PDF handling
Watch out for
- Smaller community than Paperless
- Setup requires several services
Frequently asked questions
Is Paperless-ngx or Papermerge 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 Paperless-ngx and Papermerge free and open-source?
Yes. Paperless-ngx is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Papermerge under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Paperless-ngx and Papermerge with Docker?
Paperless-ngx: yes. Papermerge: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Paperless-ngx or Papermerge?
Papermerge has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Paperless-ngx. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.