MinerU vs PaddleOCR
Short answer
MinerU: Document parser that converts PDFs, scans and Office files into clean Markdown or JSON for LLMs and RAG. PaddleOCR: OCR toolkit and document AI engine that turns scans, images and PDFs into LLM-ready text, Markdown or JSON. Both are in our Document processing category.
Choose PaddleOCR if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Custom / conditional).
PaddleOCR 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 PaddleOCR side by side
| MinerU | PaddleOCR | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | OCR toolkit and document AI engine that turns scans, images and PDFs into LLM-ready text, Markdown or JSON. |
| License | MinerU Open Source License (Apache-2.0 with additional terms) | Apache-2.0 |
| License type | Custom / conditional | Permissive |
| 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. | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep license and notices. |
| Status | Active | Active |
| GitHub stars | 82.3k | 91.5k |
| Last commit | Oct 11, 2026 | Sep 16, 2026 |
| Latest release | mineru-4.0.12-released | v3.7.0 |
| 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. | Optional. The server uses a GPU by default if available, otherwise the CPU. |
| Est. server cost | from €11.99/mo | Not estimated |
| Deploy method | Python package (uv/pip) with web UI; Docker Compose for NVIDIA GPUs | pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API) |
| 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 documented |
| Audit log | Not documented | Not documented |
| RBAC | Not documented | Not documented |
| Details | Full MinerU guide → | Full PaddleOCR guide → |
Key differences
- License: MinerU: MinerU Open Source License (Apache-2.0 with additional terms) (Custom / conditional). PaddleOCR: Apache-2.0 (Permissive).
- Official hardware: MinerU: minimum 2 GB RAM. PaddleOCR: not published.
- Est. server cost: MinerU: from €11.99/mo. PaddleOCR: not estimated (no official RAM figure).
- Deploy: MinerU: Python package (uv/pip) with web UI; Docker Compose for NVIDIA GPUs · multi-container stack. PaddleOCR: pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API) · pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API).
- GitHub stars: MinerU: 82.3k. PaddleOCR: 91.5k.
- Last commit: MinerU: Oct 11, 2026. PaddleOCR: Sep 16, 2026.
- Latest release: MinerU: mineru-4.0.12-released (Oct 11, 2026). PaddleOCR: v3.7.0 (Jun 11, 2026).
Same for both: Category: Document processing; GPU: optional / see notes; Status: Active.
MinerU vs PaddleOCR: FAQ
MinerU or PaddleOCR: which should a small business choose?
Choose PaddleOCR if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Custom / conditional). PaddleOCR publishes no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, MinerU or PaddleOCR?
MinerU: from €11.99/mo. PaddleOCR: 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 PaddleOCR need?
MinerU: minimum 2 GB RAM. PaddleOCR: not published.
What is the license difference between MinerU and PaddleOCR?
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. PaddleOCR: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep license and notices. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is MinerU or PaddleOCR more actively maintained?
MinerU: Active, last commit Oct 11, 2026. PaddleOCR: Active, last commit Sep 16, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Oct 23, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, MinerU or PaddleOCR?
MinerU installs via Python package (uv/pip) with web UI; Docker Compose for NVIDIA GPUs (multi-container stack); PaddleOCR via pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API) (pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API)). MinerU lists 4 known gotchas and PaddleOCR lists 4; see each app page.
Related
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
- PaddleOCR GitHub repository: github.com/PaddlePaddle/PaddleOCR
- PaddleOCR documentation: www.paddleocr.ai/
- PaddleOCR license: github.com/PaddlePaddle/PaddleOCR/blob/main/LICENSE
- PaddleOCR hardware requirements, PaddleOCR deploy instructions: www.paddleocr.ai/latest/en/version3.x/inference_deployment/serving/serving.html
- Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-10-22): 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.