OCRmyPDF alternatives
Short answer
We track 7 self-hosted alternatives to OCRmyPDF: PaddleOCR, MinerU, Paperless-AI, paperless-gpt, Docling Serve, Paperless-ngx and Unstract.
PaddleOCR (same category): fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Copyleft (GPL)) and larger community (92.1k vs 35.2k GitHub stars).
MinerU (same category): larger community (82.9k vs 35.2k GitHub stars).
Paperless-AI (same category): fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Copyleft (GPL)).
Last updated · how we rank · sources
OCRmyPDF alternatives compared
| # | App | Advantages over OCRmyPDF | Est. server cost | Official hardware | License | Stars | Last commit | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | OCRmyPDF (this app) | Active | not estimated (no official RAM figure) | not published | MPL-2.0 | 35.2k | Oct 25, 2026 | — |
| 1 | PaddleOCR Same category | fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Copyleft (GPL)); larger community (92.1k vs 35.2k GitHub stars) | not estimated (no official RAM figure) | not published | Apache-2.0 | 92.1k | Sep 16, 2026 | OCRmyPDF vs PaddleOCR |
| 2 | MinerU Same category | larger community (82.9k vs 35.2k GitHub stars) Trade-off: OCRmyPDF has simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack) | from €11.99/mo | minimum 2 GB RAM | MinerU Open Source License (Apache-2.0 with additional terms) | 82.9k | Oct 30, 2026 | OCRmyPDF vs MinerU |
| 3 | Paperless-AI Same category | fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Copyleft (GPL)) Trade-off: OCRmyPDF has an actively maintained project (Paperless-AI is stale); larger community (35.2k vs 6.0k GitHub stars); simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack) | not estimated (no official RAM figure) | not published | MIT | 6.0k | Mar 31, 2026 | OCRmyPDF vs Paperless-AI |
| 4 | paperless-gpt Same category | fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Copyleft (GPL)) Trade-off: OCRmyPDF has larger community (35.2k vs 2.8k GitHub stars); simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack) | not estimated (no official RAM figure) | not published | MIT | 2.8k | Oct 16, 2026 | OCRmyPDF vs paperless-gpt |
| 5 | Docling Serve Same category | fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Copyleft (GPL)) Trade-off: OCRmyPDF has larger community (35.2k vs 1.9k GitHub stars) | not estimated (no official RAM figure) | not published | MIT | 1.9k | Oct 27, 2026 | OCRmyPDF vs Docling Serve |
| 6 | Paperless-ngx Same category | None in our data (differs in features) Trade-off: OCRmyPDF has simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack) | not estimated (no official RAM figure) | not published | GPL-3.0 | 47.5k | Oct 31, 2026 | OCRmyPDF vs Paperless-ngx |
| 7 | Unstract Same category | None in our data (differs in features) Trade-off: OCRmyPDF has fewer license conditions (Copyleft (GPL) vs Network copyleft (AGPL)); larger community (35.2k vs 7.4k GitHub stars); simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack) | from €35.99/mo | minimum 8 GB RAM | AGPL-3.0 | 7.4k | Oct 30, 2026 | OCRmyPDF vs Unstract |
Ranked by the number of objective advantages each alternative has over the app (cheaper estimated server cost, lighter official RAM figure, no GPU needed, fewer license conditions, better maintenance status, at least 1.5× the GitHub stars, simpler deploy). Ties: same-category apps first, then more GitHub stars. License order used: Permissive (MIT/Apache) → Open core → Copyleft (GPL) or Custom conditions → Network copyleft (AGPL) → Source-available. Archived projects are not listed as alternatives.
What each alternative is
- PaddleOCR (Document processing): OCR toolkit and document AI engine that turns scans, images and PDFs into LLM-ready text, Markdown or JSON.
- MinerU (Document processing): Document parser that converts PDFs, scans and Office files into clean Markdown or JSON for LLMs and RAG.
- Paperless-AI (Document processing): AI auto-tagging and document chat for Paperless-ngx (currently unmaintained).
- paperless-gpt (Document processing): LLM add-on for paperless-ngx that does better OCR and writes titles, tags and correspondents.
- Docling Serve (Document processing): Docling document conversion (PDF, Office, images to Markdown/JSON) as a self-hosted API with a demo UI.
- Paperless-ngx (Document processing): Document management system that OCRs scans into a searchable archive, auto-tags them and adds optional LLM suggestions and chat.
- Unstract (Document processing): No-code LLM platform that turns invoices, forms and other documents into structured JSON.
OCRmyPDF alternatives: FAQ
What is the best self-hosted alternative to OCRmyPDF?
By our objective ranking: 1. PaddleOCR (fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Copyleft (GPL)); larger community (92.1k vs 35.2k GitHub stars)) 2. MinerU (larger community (82.9k vs 35.2k GitHub stars)) 3. Paperless-AI (fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Copyleft (GPL))). "Best" depends on the features you need; the ranking only counts cost, hardware, license, maintenance, community size and deploy complexity.
Is there a cheaper alternative to OCRmyPDF?
Not by our estimate. OCRmyPDF: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Alternatives: PaddleOCR (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), MinerU (from €11.99/mo), Paperless-AI (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), paperless-gpt (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), Docling Serve (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), Paperless-ngx (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), Unstract (from €35.99/mo).
Which OCRmyPDF alternative has the most permissive license?
PaddleOCR: Apache-2.0 (Permissive); Paperless-AI: MIT (Permissive); paperless-gpt: MIT (Permissive); Docling Serve: MIT (Permissive). OCRmyPDF is MPL-2.0 (Copyleft (GPL)). Not legal advice.
Related
Sources
- OCRmyPDF GitHub repository: github.com/ocrmypdf/OCRmyPDF
- OCRmyPDF documentation: ocrmypdf.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
- OCRmyPDF license: github.com/ocrmypdf/OCRmyPDF/blob/main/LICENSE
- OCRmyPDF hardware requirements: ocrmypdf.readthedocs.io/en/latest/performance.html
- OCRmyPDF deploy instructions: ocrmypdf.readthedocs.io/en/latest/batch.html
- PaddleOCR GitHub repository: github.com/PaddlePaddle/PaddleOCR
- MinerU GitHub repository: github.com/opendatalab/MinerU
- Paperless-AI GitHub repository: github.com/clusterzx/paperless-ai
- paperless-gpt GitHub repository: github.com/icereed/paperless-gpt
- Docling Serve GitHub repository: github.com/docling-project/docling-serve
- Paperless-ngx GitHub repository: github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx
- Unstract GitHub repository: github.com/Zipstack/unstract
- Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-10-25): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
- GitHub stars and commits: GitHub REST API, refreshed daily