head to head · open source
Docuseal vs pdfx
Docuseal has 18,558 GitHub stars, 1,867 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. pdfx has 1,063 stars, 122 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Docuseal leads on adoption by 1,646% (18,558 vs 1,063 stars). Docuseal is written in Ruby under AGPL-3.0; pdfx is written in TypeScript under MIT. Docuseal has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, pdfx 11%. Docuseal was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (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
| Docuseal | pdfx | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-08-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 122 |
| 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 pdfx if
- You want the pdfx feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and pdfx fits your workflow better
About Docuseal
Docuseal is an open source document filling and signing platform for individuals and teams, and its repository describes it as an open source alternative to DocuSign. It is built in Ruby on Rails and uses a self hosted deployment model, with interface components associated with Tailwind CSS, Vue, and Hotwire Turbo.
read the full Docuseal overview →
About pdfx
PDFx is a free, MIT licensed, open source desktop application and file format that bundles many PDF documents into a single valid PDF, aimed at people who need to organise, view, reorder and export large collections of documents on macOS, Windows or Linux.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docuseal or pdfx more popular?
Docuseal has 18,558 GitHub stars and pdfx has 1,063. Docuseal has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docuseal and pdfx free?
Both are open source. Docuseal is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and pdfx under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docuseal and pdfx?
Docuseal is written in Ruby and pdfx 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, Docuseal or pdfx?
Choose Docuseal if you want the larger community (18,558 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose pdfx if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.