head to head · open source
bentopdf vs papermerge-core
bentopdf has 15,578 GitHub stars, 1,339 forks, 156 open issues and last shipped yesterday. papermerge-core has 539 stars, 110 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. bentopdf leads on adoption by 2,790% (15,578 vs 539 stars). bentopdf is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; papermerge-core is written in Python under Apache-2.0. bentopdf has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, papermerge-core 20%. bentopdf was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (pdf), 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 | papermerge-core | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 539 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 110 |
| 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 papermerge-core if
- You want the papermerge-core feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and papermerge-core 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 papermerge-core
Papermerge DMS (papermerge core) is the open source core of Papermerge, a document management system in Python that OCRs scanned documents, indexes them, and makes them searchable for anyone who needs a long term digital archive rather than a folder full of loose files.
read the full papermerge-core overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is bentopdf or papermerge-core more popular?
bentopdf has 15,578 GitHub stars and papermerge-core has 539. bentopdf has the larger community by that measure.
Are bentopdf and papermerge-core free?
Both are open source. bentopdf is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and papermerge-core under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between bentopdf and papermerge-core?
bentopdf is written in JavaScript and papermerge-core in Python. 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 papermerge-core?
Choose bentopdf if you want the larger community (15,578 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose papermerge-core if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.