Learn how Paperless-ngx and Papra differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these document management systems is best for you.
Last 30 days
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Last 30 days
Last commit
Repository age
Version
License
Self-hosted
Repository

Both Paperless-ngx and Papra have their unique strengths and serve similar purposes effectively. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.
Paperless-ngx significantly outpaces Papra in community adoption with 44,587 stars compared to 5,241 stars on GitHub. This 8.5x difference suggests Paperless-ngx has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Paperless-ngx has 3,058 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.
Papra is growing faster, adding 181 stars in the last 30 days (+3.6%) against adding 1,044 stars for Paperless-ngx (+2.4%). Papra is the smaller project of the two, so it is closing the gap rather than extending a lead.
Both projects show recent activity, with Paperless-ngx last updated 5 hours ago and Papra 23 hours ago.
Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with JavaScript, CSS, Typescript. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: Paperless-ngx uses Bash, Python, SCSS while Papra leverages JSX.
Paperless-ngx has been in development longer, starting 5 years ago, compared to Papra which began 2 years ago. This 2.9-year head start suggests Paperless-ngx may have more mature features and established processes.
The projects use different licenses: Paperless-ngx is licensed under GPL-3.0 while Papra uses AGPL-3.0. Consider the licensing requirements when choosing for your project.
Both tools serve similar use cases in Document Management Systems. However, they also have distinct specializations: Paperless-ngx also focuses on Storage while Papra extends into Secure Document Sharing.
Both Paperless-ngx and Papra offer self-hosting capabilities, giving you full control over your data and infrastructure.