head to head · open source
bentopdf vs PaperKnife
bentopdf has 15,578 GitHub stars, 1,339 forks, 156 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PaperKnife has 1,459 stars, 103 forks, 47 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. bentopdf leads on adoption by 968% (15,578 vs 1,459 stars). bentopdf is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; PaperKnife is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. bentopdf has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, PaperKnife 7%. bentopdf was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (pdf, pdf-tools), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| bentopdf | PaperKnife | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 103 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick bentopdf if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick PaperKnife if
- You want the PaperKnife feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and PaperKnife fits your workflow better
About bentopdf
BentoPDF is a JavaScript, browser based PDF toolkit that merges, edits, converts, and processes documents entirely on the client, and it is aimed at individuals and teams who need those document workflows without sending files to a third party service.
read the full bentopdf overview →
About PaperKnife
PaperKnife is a privacy first PDF utility built with React and TypeScript and distributed as a web application and an Android application. It belongs to the open source document management and PDF tools ecosystem, and its stated architecture is zero server: documents are processed on the user's device instead of being uploaded to a remote service. Core processing uses pdf lib and pdfjs dist in a sandboxed WebAssembly environment, the Android version is powered by Capacitor, and the repository is licensed under AGPL 3.0.
read the full PaperKnife overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is bentopdf or PaperKnife more popular?
bentopdf has 15,578 GitHub stars and PaperKnife has 1,459. bentopdf has the larger community by that measure.
Are bentopdf and PaperKnife free?
Both are open source. bentopdf is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and PaperKnife under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between bentopdf and PaperKnife?
bentopdf is written in JavaScript and PaperKnife in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, bentopdf or PaperKnife?
Choose bentopdf if you want the larger community (15,578 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose PaperKnife if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.