head to head · open source
docspell vs paperless-mobile
docspell has 2,351 GitHub stars, 186 forks, 235 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. paperless-mobile has 1,504 stars, 111 forks, 135 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. docspell leads on adoption by 56% (2,351 vs 1,504 stars). docspell is written in Elm under AGPL-3.0; paperless-mobile is written in Dart under GPL-3.0. docspell has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, paperless-mobile 7%. docspell was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (dms), 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
| docspell | paperless-mobile | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.4K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Elm | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-11-11 | 2026-11-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 186 | ⑂ 111 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick docspell if
- You weight community size — 2.4K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Elm
- 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 docspell
Docspell Document Management System (DMS) Docspell is a personal document organizer. Or sometimes called a "Document Management System" (DMS). You'll need a scanner to convert your papers into files. Docspell can then assist in organizing the resulting mess :wink:. It can unify your files from scanners, emails and other sources. It is targeted for home use, i.e. families, households and also for smaller groups/companies. You can associate tags, set correspondends and lots of other predefined and custom metadata. If your documents are associated with such meta data, you can quickly find them later using the…
read the full docspell 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 docspell or paperless-mobile more popular?
docspell has 2,351 GitHub stars and paperless-mobile has 1,504. docspell has the larger community by that measure.
Are docspell and paperless-mobile free?
Both are open source. docspell is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and paperless-mobile under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between docspell and paperless-mobile?
docspell is written in Elm 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, docspell or paperless-mobile?
Choose docspell if you want the larger community (2,351 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.