PaddleOCR vs paperless-gpt
Short answer
PaddleOCR: OCR toolkit and document AI engine that turns scans, images and PDFs into LLM-ready text, Markdown or JSON. paperless-gpt: LLM add-on for paperless-ngx that does better OCR and writes titles, tags and correspondents. Both are in our Document processing category.
Choose PaddleOCR if you want: larger community (91.7k vs 2.8k GitHub stars).
PaddleOCR and paperless-gpt 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-gpt side by side
| PaddleOCR | paperless-gpt | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | LLM add-on for paperless-ngx that does better OCR and writes titles, tags and correspondents. |
| 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 license notice. |
| Status | Active | Active |
| GitHub stars | 91.7k | 2.8k |
| Last commit | Sep 16, 2026 | Oct 16, 2026 |
| Latest release | v3.7.0 | v0.31.0 |
| 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 needed for the app itself. A GPU only matters if you run the LLM locally (for example with Ollama). |
| Est. server cost | Not estimated | Not estimated |
| Deploy method | pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API) | Docker Compose |
| Known gotchas | 4 listed | 3 listed |
| Telemetry | Not documented | Not documented |
| Calls home by default | Not documented | Not documented |
| SSO (OIDC / SAML / LDAP) | Not documented | Not supported (OIDC not supported · SAML not supported · LDAP not supported) |
| Audit log | Not documented | Not documented |
| RBAC | Not documented | No |
| Details | Full PaddleOCR guide → | Full paperless-gpt guide → |
Key differences
- License: PaddleOCR: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). paperless-gpt: MIT (Permissive).
- Deploy: PaddleOCR: pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API) · pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API). paperless-gpt: Docker Compose · multi-container stack.
- GitHub stars: PaddleOCR: 91.7k. paperless-gpt: 2.8k.
- Last commit: PaddleOCR: Sep 16, 2026. paperless-gpt: Oct 16, 2026.
- Latest release: PaddleOCR: v3.7.0 (Jun 11, 2026). paperless-gpt: v0.31.0 (Oct 14, 2026).
Same for both: Category: Document processing; Official hardware: not published; GPU: optional / see notes; Est. server cost: not estimated (no official RAM figure); Status: Active.
PaddleOCR vs paperless-gpt: FAQ
PaddleOCR or paperless-gpt: which should a small business choose?
Choose PaddleOCR if you want: larger community (91.7k vs 2.8k GitHub stars). PaddleOCR and paperless-gpt publish no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, PaddleOCR or paperless-gpt?
PaddleOCR: not estimated (no official RAM figure). paperless-gpt: 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-gpt need?
PaddleOCR: not published. paperless-gpt: not published.
What is the license difference between PaddleOCR and paperless-gpt?
PaddleOCR: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep license and notices. paperless-gpt: MIT (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the license notice. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is PaddleOCR or paperless-gpt more actively maintained?
PaddleOCR: Active, last commit Sep 16, 2026. paperless-gpt: Active, last commit Oct 16, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Oct 27, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, PaddleOCR or paperless-gpt?
PaddleOCR installs via pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API) (pip + PaddleX serving (HTTP API)); paperless-gpt via Docker Compose (multi-container stack). PaddleOCR lists 4 known gotchas and paperless-gpt lists 3; see each app page.
Related
- PaddleOCR self-hosting guide · paperless-gpt self-hosting guide
- All PaddleOCR alternatives, ranked
- All paperless-gpt alternatives, ranked
- MinerU vs PaddleOCR
- MinerU vs paperless-gpt
- PaddleOCR vs Paperless-AI
- PaddleOCR vs Unstract
- Paperless-AI vs paperless-gpt
- paperless-gpt vs Unstract
- Add a third app in the interactive comparison
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-gpt GitHub repository: github.com/icereed/paperless-gpt
- paperless-gpt documentation: github.com/icereed/paperless-gpt#getting-started
- paperless-gpt license: github.com/icereed/paperless-gpt/blob/main/LICENSE
- paperless-gpt hardware requirements: github.com/icereed/paperless-gpt#prerequisites
- paperless-gpt deploy instructions: github.com/icereed/paperless-gpt#docker-compose
- 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.