olmOCR alternatives
Short answer
We track 8 self-hosted alternatives to olmOCR: PaddleOCR, MinerU, Paperless-ngx, OCRmyPDF, Unstract, paperless-gpt, Docling Serve and Paperless-AI.
olmOCR has had no commit since Mar 25, 2026, which is one reason to look at alternatives.
PaddleOCR (same category): no GPU server needed, an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale) and larger community (92.2k vs 19.8k GitHub stars).
MinerU (same category): no GPU server needed, an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale) and larger community (83.0k vs 19.8k GitHub stars).
Paperless-ngx (same category): no GPU server needed, an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale) and larger community (47.6k vs 19.8k GitHub stars).
Last updated · how we rank · sources
olmOCR alternatives compared
| # | App | Advantages over olmOCR | Est. server cost | Official hardware | License | Stars | Last commit | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | olmOCR (this app) | Stale (no commit in 180+ days) | GPU server (not estimated) | not published | Apache-2.0 | 19.8k | Mar 25, 2026 | — |
| 1 | PaddleOCR Same category | no GPU server needed; an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale); larger community (92.2k vs 19.8k GitHub stars) | not estimated (no official RAM figure) | not published | Apache-2.0 | 92.2k | Sep 16, 2026 | olmOCR vs PaddleOCR |
| 2 | MinerU Same category | no GPU server needed; an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale); larger community (83.0k vs 19.8k GitHub stars) Trade-off: olmOCR has fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Custom / conditional); 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) | 83.0k | Nov 3, 2026 | olmOCR vs MinerU |
| 3 | Paperless-ngx Same category | no GPU server needed; an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale); larger community (47.6k vs 19.8k GitHub stars) Trade-off: olmOCR has fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Copyleft (GPL)); simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack) | not estimated (no official RAM figure) | not published | GPL-3.0 | 47.6k | Nov 3, 2026 | olmOCR vs Paperless-ngx |
| 4 | OCRmyPDF Same category | no GPU server needed; an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale); larger community (35.2k vs 19.8k GitHub stars) Trade-off: olmOCR has fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Copyleft (GPL)) | not estimated (no official RAM figure) | not published | MPL-2.0 | 35.2k | Oct 25, 2026 | olmOCR vs OCRmyPDF |
| 5 | Unstract Same category | no GPU server needed; an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale) Trade-off: olmOCR has fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)); larger community (19.8k 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 | Nov 2, 2026 | olmOCR vs Unstract |
| 6 | paperless-gpt Same category | no GPU server needed; an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale) Trade-off: olmOCR has larger community (19.8k 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 | olmOCR vs paperless-gpt |
| 7 | Docling Serve Same category | no GPU server needed; an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale) Trade-off: olmOCR has larger community (19.8k vs 1.9k GitHub stars) | not estimated (no official RAM figure) | not published | MIT | 1.9k | Oct 27, 2026 | olmOCR vs Docling Serve |
| 8 | Paperless-AI Same category | no GPU server needed Trade-off: olmOCR has larger community (19.8k 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 | olmOCR vs Paperless-AI |
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-ngx (Document processing): Document management system that OCRs scans into a searchable archive, auto-tags them and adds optional LLM suggestions and chat.
- OCRmyPDF (Document processing): Command-line tool and Docker image that adds a searchable OCR text layer to scanned PDFs, with a watched-folder service.
- Unstract (Document processing): No-code LLM platform that turns invoices, forms and other documents into structured JSON.
- 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-AI (Document processing): AI auto-tagging and document chat for Paperless-ngx (currently unmaintained).
olmOCR alternatives: FAQ
What is the best self-hosted alternative to olmOCR?
By our objective ranking: 1. PaddleOCR (no GPU server needed; an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale); larger community (92.2k vs 19.8k GitHub stars)) 2. MinerU (no GPU server needed; an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale); larger community (83.0k vs 19.8k GitHub stars)) 3. Paperless-ngx (no GPU server needed; an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale); larger community (47.6k vs 19.8k GitHub stars)). "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 olmOCR?
Not by our estimate. olmOCR: GPU server (not estimated). Alternatives: PaddleOCR (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), MinerU (from €11.99/mo), Paperless-ngx (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), OCRmyPDF (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), Unstract (from €35.99/mo), paperless-gpt (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), Docling Serve (not estimated (no official RAM figure)), Paperless-AI (not estimated (no official RAM figure)).
Which olmOCR alternative has the most permissive license?
None has fewer conditions than olmOCR (Apache-2.0 (Permissive)). Alternatives: PaddleOCR: Apache-2.0 (Permissive); MinerU: MinerU Open Source License (Apache-2.0 with additional terms) (Custom / conditional); Paperless-ngx: GPL-3.0 (Copyleft (GPL)); OCRmyPDF: MPL-2.0 (Copyleft (GPL)); Unstract: AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)); paperless-gpt: MIT (Permissive); Docling Serve: MIT (Permissive); Paperless-AI: MIT (Permissive). Not legal advice.
Which olmOCR alternative needs the least hardware?
PaddleOCR: not published; MinerU: minimum 2 GB RAM; Paperless-ngx: not published; OCRmyPDF: not published; Unstract: minimum 8 GB RAM; paperless-gpt: not published; Docling Serve: not published; Paperless-AI: not published. olmOCR: not published.
Is olmOCR still maintained?
Stale (no commit in 180+ days). Last commit: Mar 25, 2026. Checked Nov 3, 2026.
Related
Sources
- olmOCR GitHub repository: github.com/allenai/olmocr
- olmOCR documentation: github.com/allenai/olmocr#readme
- olmOCR license: github.com/allenai/olmocr/blob/main/LICENSE
- olmOCR hardware requirements: github.com/allenai/olmocr#python-installation
- olmOCR deploy instructions: github.com/allenai/olmocr#using-docker
- PaddleOCR GitHub repository: github.com/PaddlePaddle/PaddleOCR
- MinerU GitHub repository: github.com/opendatalab/MinerU
- Paperless-ngx GitHub repository: github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx
- OCRmyPDF GitHub repository: github.com/ocrmypdf/OCRmyPDF
- Unstract GitHub repository: github.com/Zipstack/unstract
- paperless-gpt GitHub repository: github.com/icereed/paperless-gpt
- Docling Serve GitHub repository: github.com/docling-project/docling-serve
- Paperless-AI GitHub repository: github.com/clusterzx/paperless-ai
- Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-11-01): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
- GitHub stars and commits: GitHub REST API, refreshed daily