PaddleOCR vs Paperless-AI
Short answer
PaddleOCR: OCR toolkit and document AI engine that turns scans, images and PDFs into LLM-ready text, Markdown or JSON. Paperless-AI: AI auto-tagging and document chat for Paperless-ngx (currently unmaintained). Both are in our Document processing category.
Choose PaddleOCR if you want: an actively maintained project (Paperless-AI is stale) and larger community (91.5k vs 6.0k GitHub stars).
PaddleOCR and Paperless-AI publish 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
PaddleOCR vs Paperless-AI side by side
| PaddleOCR | Paperless-AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Document processing | Document processing |
| What it is | OCR toolkit and document AI engine that turns scans, images and PDFs into LLM-ready text, Markdown or JSON. | AI auto-tagging and document chat for Paperless-ngx (currently unmaintained). |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| License type | Permissive | Permissive |
| License conditions | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep license and notices. | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the copyright notice. |
| Status | Active | Stale (no commit in 180+ days) |
| GitHub stars | 91.5k | 6.0k |
| Last commit | Sep 16, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Latest release | v3.7.0 | v3.0.9 |
| Minimum hardware | Not published | Not published |
| Recommended hardware | Not published | Not published |
| RAM measured by us | Not tested yet | Not tested yet |
| GPU | Optional. The server uses a GPU by default if available, otherwise the CPU. | Not required / not stated |
| Est. server cost | Not estimated | Not estimated |
| Deploy method | pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API) | Docker |
| Known gotchas | 4 listed | 2 listed |
| Telemetry | Not documented | 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 PaddleOCR guide → | Full Paperless-AI guide → |
Key differences
- License: PaddleOCR: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Paperless-AI: MIT (Permissive).
- GPU: PaddleOCR: optional / see notes. Paperless-AI: not required or not stated.
- Deploy: PaddleOCR: pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API) · pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API). Paperless-AI: Docker · multi-container stack.
- Status: PaddleOCR: Active. Paperless-AI: Stale (no commit in 180+ days).
- GitHub stars: PaddleOCR: 91.5k. Paperless-AI: 6.0k.
- Last commit: PaddleOCR: Sep 16, 2026. Paperless-AI: Mar 31, 2026.
- Latest release: PaddleOCR: v3.7.0 (Jun 11, 2026). Paperless-AI: v3.0.9 (Nov 4, 2025).
Same for both: Category: Document processing; Official hardware: not published; Est. server cost: not estimated (no official RAM figure).
PaddleOCR vs Paperless-AI: FAQ
PaddleOCR or Paperless-AI: which should a small business choose?
Choose PaddleOCR if you want: an actively maintained project (Paperless-AI is stale) and larger community (91.5k vs 6.0k GitHub stars). PaddleOCR and Paperless-AI publish no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, PaddleOCR or Paperless-AI?
PaddleOCR: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Paperless-AI: 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 PaddleOCR and Paperless-AI need?
PaddleOCR: not published. Paperless-AI: not published.
What is the license difference between PaddleOCR and Paperless-AI?
PaddleOCR: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep license and notices. Paperless-AI: MIT (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the copyright notice. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is PaddleOCR or Paperless-AI more actively maintained?
PaddleOCR: Active, last commit Sep 16, 2026. Paperless-AI: Stale (no commit in 180+ days), last commit Mar 31, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Oct 23, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, PaddleOCR or Paperless-AI?
PaddleOCR installs via pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API) (pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API)); Paperless-AI via Docker (multi-container stack). PaddleOCR lists 4 known gotchas and Paperless-AI lists 2; see each app page.
Related
Sources
- 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
- Paperless-AI GitHub repository: github.com/clusterzx/paperless-ai
- Paperless-AI documentation: github.com/clusterzx/paperless-ai/wiki/2.-Installation
- Paperless-AI license: github.com/clusterzx/paperless-ai/blob/main/LICENSE
- Paperless-AI hardware requirements, Paperless-AI deploy instructions: github.com/clusterzx/paperless-ai#readme
- 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.