Papermerge vs PDFKeeper
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted document management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Papermerge
Document management system for scanned documents
VS
PDFKeeper
Open-source PDF document management system
| Feature | Papermerge | PDFKeeper |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 70 · Good | 75 · Good |
| Category | Document Management | Document Management |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 538 | ★ 242 |
| First released | 2017 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Evernote, DEVONthink | DEVONthink, Mayan EDMS |
What are Papermerge and PDFKeeper?
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
PDFKeeper
PDFKeeper is an open-source PDF document management system for capturing, storing, organizing, and retrieving PDF documents. It supports full-text search and runs against an Oracle or PostgreSQL database backend.
- PDF capture and organization
- Full-text search
- PostgreSQL or Oracle backend
- Cross-platform desktop client
Papermerge vs PDFKeeper: key differences
Papermerge is written in Python, while PDFKeeper is built with C#. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Papermerge versus GPL-3.0 for PDFKeeper. PDFKeeper is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Papermerge. PDFKeeper is the more established project (first released 2014), while Papermerge arrived in 2017. Papermerge has the considerably larger community, at 538 GitHub stars versus 242. Papermerge lists first-class Docker deployment; PDFKeeper does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Papermerge if…
- Familiar folder structure
- Good PDF handling
Watch out for
- Smaller community than Paperless
- Setup requires several services
Choose PDFKeeper if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in C#
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Papermerge or PDFKeeper better?
Neither is universally better. Papermerge has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Papermerge and PDFKeeper free and open-source?
Yes. Papermerge is licensed under Apache-2.0 and PDFKeeper under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Papermerge and PDFKeeper with Docker?
Papermerge: yes. PDFKeeper: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Papermerge or PDFKeeper?
PDFKeeper has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Papermerge. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.