Paperless-ngx

What is Paperless-ngx?

Paperless-ngx turns scanned and digital documents into a searchable archive. It OCRs every file, stores the original plus a PDF/A copy, and suggests tags, correspondents, document types and storage paths with a local (non-LLM) machine-learning model trained on your own documents. Optional AI features use an OpenAI-compatible API or a local Ollama model to suggest titles, dates and tags and to build an LLM index for questions over your archive. It has users, groups, per-document permissions, workflows and email import.

Where it fits in a 10–200 person business

• Scan invoices, contracts and receipts into one searchable archive with automatic tagging
• Pull attachments from a shared mailbox and file them by supplier or customer
• Ask questions over your own document archive with a local model via Ollama

These use cases are our editorial suggestions, not claims made by the project.

Can a business use Paperless-ngx? (license)

This is a plain-English summary of the license text, not legal advice. Third-party models you run with it have their own licenses.

Data & compliance: does Paperless-ngx phone home?

Checked against the project's own docs and repository on Oct 30, 2026. "Not documented" means we could not find the answer in official sources; it does not mean the feature is missing or that no data is sent. Third-party services you connect (model APIs, vector databases, search engines) have their own data policies. Compare all apps.

What hardware does Paperless-ngx need?

The project does not publish a minimum CPU/RAM figure, so we leave the official value blank rather than guess.

GPU: No. OCR and the built-in classifier run on CPU; LLM features call the provider you configure.

No official CPU, RAM or disk minimum is published. The FAQ says it runs on a Raspberry Pi 3 B, with slow OCR, and the setup guide lists settings for less powerful devices.

Source: github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/blob/main/docs/faq.md

How much does it cost to host Paperless-ngx per month?

How to deploy Paperless-ngx

Method: Docker Compose (official install script)

bash -c "$(curl --location --silent --show-error https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/main/install-paperless-ngx.sh)"
# Then open http://127.0.0.1:8000 and log in with the superuser you created

From the official instructions: github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/blob/main/docs/setup.md. Always check the source for the current version before you run it.

Known gotchas when self-hosting Paperless-ngx

• PAPERLESS_SECRET_KEY has no default and Paperless refuses to start without it; set a long random value. source
• Files dropped into the consume folder are removed from it after import; the originals live in the media volume, which you should not edit by hand. Back up that volume and the database. source
• When the AI features are enabled, document content is sent to the AI provider you configure; use a local Ollama model if documents must stay in-house. AI is off by default (PAPERLESS_AI_ENABLED=false). source
• Superuser accounts can see every document; the docs suggest a separate normal account for daily use. source

Alternatives in Document processing

• PaddleOCR OCR toolkit and document AI engine that turns scans, images and PDFs into LLM-ready text, Markdown or JSON. Compare PaddleOCR vs Paperless-ngx
• MinerU Document parser that converts PDFs, scans and Office files into clean Markdown or JSON for LLMs and RAG. Compare MinerU vs Paperless-ngx
• Unstract No-code LLM platform that turns invoices, forms and other documents into structured JSON. Compare Paperless-ngx vs Unstract
• Paperless-AI AI auto-tagging and document chat for Paperless-ngx (currently unmaintained). Compare Paperless-AI vs Paperless-ngx
• paperless-gpt LLM add-on for paperless-ngx that does better OCR and writes titles, tags and correspondents. Compare paperless-gpt vs Paperless-ngx
• Docling Serve Docling document conversion (PDF, Office, images to Markdown/JSON) as a self-hosted API with a demo UI. Compare Docling Serve vs Paperless-ngx

Sources

• GitHub repository: github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx
• Official documentation, Deploy instructions, Gotcha 4: github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/blob/main/docs/setup.md
• License text: github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/blob/dev/LICENSE
• Hardware requirements, Gotcha 2: github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/blob/main/docs/faq.md
• Gotcha 1: github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/blob/main/docs/configuration.md
• Gotcha 3: github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx/blob/main/docs/usage.md
• Hetzner Cloud pricing (cost estimate): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
• GitHub stars, commits and releases: GitHub REST API, fetched Oct 30, 2026