# PDFMathTranslate vs scalar

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | PDFMathTranslate | scalar |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 80/100 ✓ | 76/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 9 in Translation | #3 of 13 in API |
| GitHub stars | 38 009 ✓ | 16 336 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +297 ✓ | +147 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 0 | 46 ✓ |
| Latest release | — | release-2026-10-28-0d01943 · 28 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Easy | Easy |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Python | Typescript |

## Which one should you pick?

PDFMathTranslate scores 80/100 against 76/100 for scalar, so it is the safer default.

scalar ships more often: 46 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for PDFMathTranslate.

PDFMathTranslate is growing faster right now (+297 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [PDFMathTranslate](https://selfhost.directory/project/pdfmathtranslate) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/pdfmathtranslate.md)
- [scalar](https://selfhost.directory/project/scalar) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/scalar.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/pdfmathtranslate-vs-scalar