SHSelfHostIndex

Papra vs elFinder

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
PA Papra Minimalistic self-hosted document archiving platform VS EL elFinder Web file manager with a desktop-style interface
FeaturePapraelFinder
CategoryE-books & Media LibraryFile Sync & Storage
LicenseAGPL-3.0BSD-3-Clause
LanguageTypeScriptJavaScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentdockerbare-metal
GitHub stars★ 5,160★ 4,800
First released20242010
ReplacesEvernote, DropboxGoogle Drive, Dropbox

Why pick each one

Choose Papra if…

  • Clean modern UI
  • Easy deployment
Papra details

Choose elFinder if…

  • Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
  • Active community (4.8k GitHub stars)
  • Written in JavaScript
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
elFinder details

Frequently asked questions

Is Papra or elFinder better?

Papra is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider elFinder if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Papra and elFinder free and open-source?

Yes. Papra is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and elFinder under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Papra and elFinder with Docker?

Papra: yes. elFinder: check the project docs for container support.

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