head to head · open source
Immich vs Paperless-ngx
Immich has 117,997 GitHub stars, 7,465 forks, 740 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Paperless-ngx has 47,590 stars, 3,330 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Immich leads on adoption by 148% (117,997 vs 47,590 stars). Immich is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Paperless-ngx is written in Python under GPL-3.0. Immich has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Paperless-ngx 7%. Immich was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| Immich | Paperless-ngx | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 118K | ★ 48K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.5K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Immich if
- You weight community size — 118K 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 Paperless-ngx if
- You want the Paperless-ngx feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Paperless-ngx fits your workflow better
About Immich
High performance self hosted photo and video management solution Català Español Français Italiano 日本語 한국어 Deutsch Nederlands Türkçe 简体中文 正體中文 Українська Русский Български Português Brasileiro Svenska العربية Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย മലയാളം [!WARNING] ⚠️ Always follow 3 2 1 backup plan for your precious photos and videos! [!NOTE] You can find the main documentation, including installation guides, at Links Documentation About Installation Roadmap Demo Features Translations Contributing Demo Access the demo here. For the mobile app, you can use for the Server Endpoint URL . Login credentials Features Translations Read…
read the full Immich overview →
About Paperless-ngx
Paperless ngx Paperless ngx is a document management system that transforms your physical documents into a searchable online archive so you can keep, well, less paper . Paperless ngx is the official successor to the original Paperless & Paperless ng projects and is designed to distribute the responsibility of advancing and supporting the project among a team of people. Consider joining us! Thanks to the generous folks at DigitalOcean, a demo is available at demo.paperless ngx.com using login demo / demo . Note: demo content is reset frequently and confidential information should not be uploaded. Features Getting…
read the full Paperless-ngx overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Immich or Paperless-ngx more popular?
Immich has 117,997 GitHub stars and Paperless-ngx has 47,590. Immich has the larger community by that measure.
Are Immich and Paperless-ngx free?
Both are open source. Immich is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Paperless-ngx under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Immich and Paperless-ngx?
Immich is written in TypeScript and Paperless-ngx in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Immich or Paperless-ngx?
Choose Immich if you want the larger community (117,997 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Paperless-ngx if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.