head to head · open source
PaddleOCR vs crewAI
PaddleOCR has 92,231 GitHub stars, 11,616 forks, 243 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. crewAI has 60,469 stars, 9,025 forks, 353 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PaddleOCR leads on adoption by 53% (92,231 vs 60,469 stars). PaddleOCR is written in Python under Apache-2.0; crewAI is written in Python under MIT. PaddleOCR has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, crewAI 15%. crewAI 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
| PaddleOCR | crewAI | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 92K | ★ 60K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 9.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PaddleOCR if
- You weight community size — 92K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick crewAI if
- You want the crewAI feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and crewAI fits your workflow better
About PaddleOCR
Global Leading OCR Toolkit & Document AI Engine English 简体中文 繁體中文 日本語 한국어 Français Русский Español العربية PaddleOCR converts PDF documents and images into structured, LLM ready data (JSON/Markdown) with industry leading accuracy. With 70k+ Stars and trusted by top tier projects like Dify, RAGFlow, and Cherry Studio, PaddleOCR is the bedrock for building intelligent RAG and Agentic applications. 🚀 Key Features 📄 Intelligent Document Parsing (LLM Ready) Transforming messy visuals into structured data for the LLM era. SOTA Document VLM : Featuring PaddleOCR VL 1.6 (0.9B) , the industry's leading lightweight…
read the full PaddleOCR overview →
About crewAI
Homepage · Open Source · Docs · Start Cloud Trial · Blog · Forum Fast and Flexible Multi Agent Automation Framework CrewAI is an open source Python framework with high level abstractions and low level APIs for building production ready multi agent workflows. It gives developers autonomous agent collaboration through Crews and precise, event driven control through Flows. CrewAI Crews : Optimize for autonomy and collaborative intelligence with role based AI agents. CrewAI Flows : Build event driven automations that combine precise workflow control, single LLM calls, and native support for Crews. With over 100,000…
read the full crewAI overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is PaddleOCR or crewAI more popular?
PaddleOCR has 92,231 GitHub stars and crewAI has 60,469. PaddleOCR has the larger community by that measure.
Are PaddleOCR and crewAI free?
Both are open source. PaddleOCR is licensed under Apache-2.0 and crewAI under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PaddleOCR and crewAI?
PaddleOCR is written in Python and crewAI 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, PaddleOCR or crewAI?
Choose PaddleOCR if you want the larger community (92,231 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose crewAI if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.