Paperless-ngxvspdfscanexplorer
Two self-hosted Document Management projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Paperless-ngx | pdfscanexplorer | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 87/100 | 30/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 47 in Document Management | #45 of 47 in Document Management |
| GitHub stars | 48 056 | 16 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +1 649 | +0 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 29 | 2 |
| Latest release | v3.4.2 · 3 Nov 2026 | 1.0.2 · 9 Sept 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Python | JavaScript |
Which one should you pick?
Paperless-ngx scores 87/100 against 30/100 for pdfscanexplorer, so it is the safer default.
Paperless-ngx ships more often: 29 stable releases in the past year, against 2 for pdfscanexplorer.
Paperless-ngx is growing faster right now (+1 649 stars in 30 days).
Key differences
- License: Paperless-ngx is GPL-3.0, pdfscanexplorer is MIT.
- Language: Paperless-ngx is written mainly in Python, pdfscanexplorer in JavaScript.
- Features only Paperless-ngx lists: AI-powered suggestions, Automatic document classification, Barcode Support, Email fetching and 8 more.
- Features only pdfscanexplorer lists: File explorer for archive, Manual rename and move, OCR-based auto-sorting, PDF merge and 2 more.
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