Surya vs Hugging Face Transformers
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted self-hosted ai options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Surya
Multilingual document OCR and layout analysis toolkit
VS
Hugging Face Transformers
State-of-the-art machine learning model library
| Feature | Surya | Hugging Face Transformers |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 8,192 MB |
| Deployment | source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 21,223 | ★ 163,456 |
| First released | 2024 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Google Cloud Vision, AWS Textract | OpenAI API |
Why pick each one
Choose Surya if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Mature project with 21.2k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Choose Hugging Face Transformers if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Mature project with 163.5k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Surya or Hugging Face Transformers better?
Neither is universally better. Hugging Face Transformers has the larger community, while Surya is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Surya and Hugging Face Transformers free and open-source?
Yes. Surya is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Hugging Face Transformers under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Surya and Hugging Face Transformers with Docker?
Surya: check the project docs for container support. Hugging Face Transformers: check the project docs for container support.