head to head · open source
Documenso vs Papermark
Documenso has 15,633 GitHub stars, 3,432 forks, 238 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Papermark has 9,286 stars, 1,415 forks, 239 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Documenso leads on adoption by 68% (15,633 vs 9,286 stars). Documenso is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Papermark is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Documenso has attracted 22% as many forks as stars, Papermark 15%. Documenso was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (next-auth, nextjs, open-source, 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
| Documenso | Papermark | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 9.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Documenso if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Papermark if
- You want the Papermark feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Papermark fits your workflow better
About Documenso
The Open Source DocuSign Alternative. Learn more » Discord · Website · Documentation · Issues · Upcoming Releases · Roadmap About Documenso Signing documents digitally should be fast and easy and should be the best practice for every document signed worldwide. This is technically quite easy today, but it also introduces a new party to every signature: The signing tool providers. While this is not a problem in itself, it should make us think about how we want these providers of trust to work. Documenso aims to be the world's most trusted document signing tool. This trust is built by empowering you to self host…
read the full Documenso overview →
About Papermark
Papermark The open source DocSend alternative. papermark.com Papermark is the open source document sharing alternative to DocSend, featuring built in analytics and custom domains. Features Shareable Links: Share your documents securely by sending a custom link. Custom Branding: Add a custom domain and your own branding. Analytics: Gain insights through document tracking and soon page by page analytics. Self hosted, Open source: Host it yourself and customize it as needed. Demo Tech Stack Next.js – Framework TypeScript – Language Tailwind – CSS shadcn/ui UI Components Prisma ORM PostgreSQL Database NextAuth.js –…
read the full Papermark overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Documenso or Papermark more popular?
Documenso has 15,633 GitHub stars and Papermark has 9,286. Documenso has the larger community by that measure.
Are Documenso and Papermark free?
Both are open source. Documenso is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Papermark has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Documenso and Papermark?
Documenso is written in TypeScript and Papermark 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, Documenso or Papermark?
Choose Documenso if you want the larger community (15,633 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Papermark if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.