MinerU vs OCRmyPDF
Short answer
MinerU: Document parser that converts PDFs, scans and Office files into clean Markdown or JSON for LLMs and RAG. OCRmyPDF: Command-line tool and Docker image that adds a searchable OCR text layer to scanned PDFs, with a watched-folder service. Both are in our Document processing category.
Choose MinerU if you want: larger community (82.9k vs 35.2k GitHub stars).
Choose OCRmyPDF if you want: simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack).
OCRmyPDF publishes no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Last updated · computed from each project's official docs and live GitHub data · sources
MinerU vs OCRmyPDF side by side
| MinerU | OCRmyPDF | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Document processing | Document processing |
| What it is | Document parser that converts PDFs, scans and Office files into clean Markdown or JSON for LLMs and RAG. | Command-line tool and Docker image that adds a searchable OCR text layer to scanned PDFs, with a watched-folder service. |
| License | MinerU Open Source License (Apache-2.0 with additional terms) | MPL-2.0 |
| License type | Custom / conditional | Copyleft (GPL) |
| License conditions | Commercial use is allowed without a separate license, unless you and your affiliates exceed 100 million monthly active users or USD 20 million monthly revenue. If you offer an online service to third parties based on MinerU, you must state prominently that it uses MinerU. | Free for internal and commercial use. MPL-2.0 is file-level copyleft: if you distribute modified OCRmyPDF files, you must release those files' source under MPL-2.0. The demo web service is AGPL-3.0, and Ghostscript, which OCRmyPDF can use, is AGPL-licensed. |
| Status | Active | Active |
| GitHub stars | 82.9k | 35.2k |
| Last commit | Oct 30, 2026 | Oct 25, 2026 |
| Latest release | mineru-4.1.3-released | v17.13.0 |
| Minimum hardware | 2 GB RAM | Not published |
| Recommended hardware | Not published | Not published |
| RAM measured by us | Not tested yet | Not tested yet |
| GPU | Optional. The basic tier runs ONNX models on CPU; the standard/advanced tiers work on CPU with 8 GB RAM (Vulkan recommended). PyTorch and vLLM/lmdeploy engines need a GPU with 8 GB+ VRAM and 16 GB RAM. The official Docker image targets NVIDIA GPUs only. | No. Tesseract runs on CPU; the optional EasyOCR plugin is the one that recommends a GPU. |
| Est. server cost | from €11.99/mo | Not estimated |
| Deploy method | Python package (uv/pip) with web UI; Docker Compose for NVIDIA GPUs | Docker (watched-folder service) |
| Known gotchas | 4 listed | 4 listed |
| Telemetry | On by default | Not documented |
| Calls home by default | Not documented | Not documented |
| SSO (OIDC / SAML / LDAP) | Not documented | Not applicable |
| Audit log | Not documented | Not documented |
| RBAC | Not documented | Not documented |
| Details | Full MinerU guide → | Full OCRmyPDF guide → |
Key differences
- License: MinerU: MinerU Open Source License (Apache-2.0 with additional terms) (Custom / conditional). OCRmyPDF: MPL-2.0 (Copyleft (GPL)).
- Official hardware: MinerU: minimum 2 GB RAM. OCRmyPDF: not published.
- Est. server cost: MinerU: from €11.99/mo. OCRmyPDF: not estimated (no official RAM figure).
- Deploy: MinerU: Python package (uv/pip) with web UI; Docker Compose for NVIDIA GPUs · multi-container stack. OCRmyPDF: Docker (watched-folder service) · single container.
- GitHub stars: MinerU: 82.9k. OCRmyPDF: 35.2k.
- Last commit: MinerU: Oct 30, 2026. OCRmyPDF: Oct 25, 2026.
- Latest release: MinerU: mineru-4.1.3-released (Oct 30, 2026). OCRmyPDF: v17.13.0 (Sep 28, 2026).
Same for both: Category: Document processing; GPU: optional / see notes; Status: Active.
MinerU vs OCRmyPDF: FAQ
MinerU or OCRmyPDF: which should a small business choose?
Choose MinerU if you want: larger community (82.9k vs 35.2k GitHub stars). Choose OCRmyPDF if you want: simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack). OCRmyPDF publishes no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, MinerU or OCRmyPDF?
MinerU: from €11.99/mo. OCRmyPDF: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Our estimate is the cheapest Hetzner Cloud plan that meets each project's official RAM and vCPU figure; it covers the server only.
How much hardware do MinerU and OCRmyPDF need?
MinerU: minimum 2 GB RAM. OCRmyPDF: not published.
What is the license difference between MinerU and OCRmyPDF?
MinerU: MinerU Open Source License (Apache-2.0 with additional terms) (Custom / conditional). Commercial use is allowed without a separate license, unless you and your affiliates exceed 100 million monthly active users or USD 20 million monthly revenue. If you offer an online service to third parties based on MinerU, you must state prominently that it uses MinerU. OCRmyPDF: MPL-2.0 (Copyleft (GPL)). Free for internal and commercial use. MPL-2.0 is file-level copyleft: if you distribute modified OCRmyPDF files, you must release those files' source under MPL-2.0. The demo web service is AGPL-3.0, and Ghostscript, which OCRmyPDF can use, is AGPL-licensed. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is MinerU or OCRmyPDF more actively maintained?
MinerU: Active, last commit Oct 30, 2026. OCRmyPDF: Active, last commit Oct 25, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Nov 1, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, MinerU or OCRmyPDF?
MinerU installs via Python package (uv/pip) with web UI; Docker Compose for NVIDIA GPUs (multi-container stack); OCRmyPDF via Docker (watched-folder service) (single container). MinerU lists 4 known gotchas and OCRmyPDF lists 4; see each app page.
Related
- MinerU self-hosting guide · OCRmyPDF self-hosting guide
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- All OCRmyPDF alternatives, ranked
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- Add a third app in the interactive comparison
Sources
- MinerU GitHub repository: github.com/opendatalab/MinerU
- MinerU documentation, MinerU deploy instructions: opendatalab.github.io/MinerU/quick_start/
- MinerU license: github.com/opendatalab/MinerU/blob/master/LICENSE.md
- MinerU hardware requirements: github.com/opendatalab/MinerU#model-engines-with-extras
- 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
- Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-10-25): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
- GitHub REST API (stars, commits, releases): docs.github.com/en/rest
Every value is generated from the same verified data as the app pages. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.