head to head · open source
bentopdf vs paperless-mobile
bentopdf has 16,314 GitHub stars, 1,449 forks, 156 open issues and last shipped yesterday. paperless-mobile has 1,502 stars, 112 forks, 135 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. bentopdf leads on adoption by 986% (16,314 vs 1,502 stars). bentopdf is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; paperless-mobile is written in Dart under GPL-3.0. bentopdf has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, paperless-mobile 7%. bentopdf was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | paperless-mobile | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-11-09 | 2026-11-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 112 |
| 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 paperless-mobile if
- You want the paperless-mobile feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and paperless-mobile fits your workflow better
About bentopdf
BentoPDF BentoPDF is a powerful, privacy first, client side PDF toolkit that is self hostable and allows you to manipulate, edit, merge, and process PDF files directly in your browser. No server side processing is required, ensuring your files remain secure and private. Table of Contents Join Us on Discord Documentation Licensing Stargazers over time Thank You to Our Sponsors Why BentoPDF? Features / Tools Supported Organize & Manage PDFs Edit & Modify PDFs Convert to PDF Convert from PDF Secure & Optimize PDFs Other Products Translations Getting Started Prerequisites Quick Start Static Hosting Self Hosting…
read the full bentopdf overview →
About paperless-mobile
[![Contributors][contributors shield]][contributors url] [![Forks][forks shield]][forks url] [![Stargazers][stars shield]][stars url] [![Issues][issues shield]][issues url] [![MIT License][license shield]][license url] Paperless Mobile An (almost) fully fledged mobile paperless client. Report Bug · Request Feature About The Project Paperless Mobile brings paperless ngx to your smartphone without any compromises. While you can use paperless ngx from a mobile browser, managing your documents this way is often a tedious and slow process. The app integrates a custom scanner, biometric authentication and many more…
read the full paperless-mobile overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is bentopdf or paperless-mobile more popular?
bentopdf has 16,314 GitHub stars and paperless-mobile has 1,502. bentopdf has the larger community by that measure.
Are bentopdf and paperless-mobile free?
Both are open source. bentopdf is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and paperless-mobile under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between bentopdf and paperless-mobile?
bentopdf is written in JavaScript and paperless-mobile in Dart. 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 paperless-mobile?
Choose bentopdf if you want the larger community (16,314 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose paperless-mobile if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.