Papra vs pdf2htmlEX
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-books & media library options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Papra
Minimalistic self-hosted document archiving platform
VS
pdf2htmlEX
Converts PDF documents to HTML while preserving layout
| Feature | Papra | pdf2htmlEX |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-books & Media Library | E-books & Media Library |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | HTML |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,160 | ★ 5,578 |
| First released | 2024 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Evernote, Dropbox | Commercial PDF converters |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Papra or pdf2htmlEX better?
Neither is universally better. pdf2htmlEX has the larger community, while Papra is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Papra and pdf2htmlEX free and open-source?
Yes. Papra is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and pdf2htmlEX under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Papra and pdf2htmlEX with Docker?
Papra: yes. pdf2htmlEX: yes.