head to head · open source
Documenso vs Papermark
Documenso has 15,062 GitHub stars, 3,225 forks, 238 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Papermark has 9,181 stars, 1,396 forks, 239 open issues and last shipped 21 days ago. Documenso leads on adoption by 64% (15,062 vs 9,181 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 21% 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Documenso | Papermark | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 9.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Documenso if
- You weight community size — 15K 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
Documenso is open source document signing software. It lives in business software ecosystem, specifically document management and e signatures. Project calls itself open source DocuSign alternative. It provides digital signing for PDF documents. It is written in TypeScript. It is licensed under AGPL 3.0. Repository shows 15014 stars, 3207 forks, 238 open issues, last push 2026 09 14.
read the full Documenso overview →
About Papermark
Papermark open source document sharing alternative to DocSend. Project lives in Next.js/TypeScript web stack, category Business Software / Document Management & E Signatures. GitHub metadata: 9166 stars, 1392 forks, 239 open issues, last push 2026 08 28T15:58:25Z. README says built in analytics and custom domains. It is self hosted, open source, and customizable as needed. License field says NOASSERTION, so license terms need separate check.
read the full Papermark overview →
More in Business Software
Related comparisons
More Document Management & E-Signatures projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Document Management & E-Signatures field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Documenso or Papermark more popular?
Documenso has 15,062 GitHub stars and Papermark has 9,181. 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 (15,062 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.