About Paperless-ngx
Paperless-ngx is document management software that converts physical paperwork into an online archive you can search, so you end up keeping less paper. It succeeds the original Paperless and Paperless-ng projects, and a team of contributors shares the work of advancing and supporting it. The backend is Python with Django, the interface uses Angular, and it is released under the GPL-3.0 license.
Its topics point to OCR, machine learning and AI support alongside archiving and PDF handling, so scanned documents can be indexed and found by their text. The documentation has a full feature list and screenshots, and the project provides a public demo whose content is reset frequently and should not contain confidential information.
The easiest deployment is Docker Compose, using files in the repository that pull images from the GitHub container registry, and an install script can set up a compose environment. Step-by-step guides cover other installation methods, and migrating from Paperless-ng means switching to the new image. It suits households, freelancers and small offices who want a private, searchable archive of their paperwork.
Key features
- Scanned documents become a searchable archive
- OCR-based indexing of document text
- Docker Compose deployment with install script
- Migration path from Paperless-ng
- Angular web interface on a Django backend
- Community translations and public demo
Good fit for
- →Digitizing household paperwork
- →Searchable archive for a small office
- →Replacing filing cabinets with a private archive
- Tags
- document-management
- ocr
- archive
- self-hosted
- paperless
- django
- docker
Paperless-ngx: questions and answers
- What is Paperless-ngx used for?
- Paperless-ngx is a community-supported, self-hosted document management system that turns scanned paper documents into a searchable online archive. It is a good fit for digitizing household paperwork, searchable archive for a small office and replacing filing cabinets with a private archive.
- Is Paperless-ngx open source?
- Yes. Paperless-ngx is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx and is written mainly in Python.
- Is Paperless-ngx free?
- Yes. Paperless-ngx is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
- Can I self-host Paperless-ngx?
- Yes. Paperless-ngx can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
- What is Paperless-ngx an alternative to?
- Paperless-ngx is an open-source alternative to Evernote. Other open-source alternatives to Evernote include NoteDiscovery, Poznote and Nowen Note.
- Is Paperless-ngx actively maintained?
- Yes. The most recent commit to Paperless-ngx was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v3.2.1, published on 20 September 2026. The project has 46k stars on GitHub.
Open-source alternatives to Paperless-ngx
See all
NoteDiscovery
Note Taking
Your Self-Hosted Knowledge Base
MITvs Notion★ 2.8k
Poznote
Note Taking
Powerful note-taking without the hassle.
MITvs Notion★ 891
Nowen Note
Note Taking
开源自托管笔记与私有知识库,支持 Markdown/富文本、AI 写作、思维导图、任务管理、全文搜索、多级笔记本和 Docker 一键部署。
GPL-3.0vs Notion★ 545
Memos
Note Taking
Your own timeline for quick notes, private by default.
MITvs Google Keep★ 63k
SiYuan
Note Taking
思源笔记 - 隐私优先的个人知识管理系统,支持 Markdown 排版、块级引用和双向链接
AGPL-3.0vs Notion★ 47k
Trilium Notes
Note Taking
Trilium Notes is an open-source note-taking and personal knowledge base app that runs loca
AGPL-3.0vs Evernote★ 38k
SaaS alternatives to Paperless-ngx
See all
Evernote
Note Taking
Evernote is a note-taking app for capturing notes, documents and web clippings and keeping them organized and searchable across devices.
SaaS
AnDocs
File Storage & Sharing
Share PDFs through controlled links and track opens, read depth, time per page and CTA clicks
SaaS
DocuWare
File Storage & Sharing
Cloud document management and workflow automation software
SaaS
FileCloud
File Storage & Sharing
Self-hosted or cloud enterprise file sync and share platform
SaaS
Filestack
File Storage & Sharing
File upload widget and API with transformations, storage and CDN for apps
SaaS
Google Cloud Storage
File Storage & Sharing
Google Cloud object storage with multiple storage classes and global availability
SaaS
