head to head · open source
Docuseal vs docspell
Docuseal has 18,979 GitHub stars, 1,933 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped yesterday. docspell has 2,343 stars, 186 forks, 235 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Docuseal leads on adoption by 710% (18,979 vs 2,343 stars). Docuseal is written in Ruby under AGPL-3.0; docspell is written in Elm under AGPL-3.0. Docuseal has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, docspell 8%. Docuseal 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
| Docuseal | docspell | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | Elm |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 186 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Docuseal if
- You weight community size — 19K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick docspell if
- You want the docspell feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Elm
- You evaluated both and docspell fits your workflow better
About Docuseal
DocuSeal Open source document filling and signing DocuSeal is an open source platform that provides secure and efficient digital document signing and processing. Create PDF forms to have them filled and signed online on any device with an easy to use, mobile optimized web tool. ✨ Live Demo ☁️ Try in Cloud Features PDF form fields builder (WYSIWYG) 12 field types available (Signature, Date, File, Checkbox etc.) Multiple submitters per document Automated emails via SMTP Files storage on disk or AWS S3, Google Storage, Azure Cloud Automatic PDF eSignature PDF signature verification Users management Mobile optimized…
read the full Docuseal overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docuseal or docspell more popular?
Docuseal has 18,979 GitHub stars and docspell has 2,343. Docuseal has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docuseal and docspell free?
Both are open source. Docuseal is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and docspell under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docuseal and docspell?
Docuseal is written in Ruby and docspell in Elm. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Docuseal or docspell?
Choose Docuseal if you want the larger community (18,979 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose docspell if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.