head to head · open source
PaddleOCR vs LiteLLM
PaddleOCR has 89,745 GitHub stars, 11,360 forks, 243 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. LiteLLM has 59,036 stars, 11,545 forks, 5,022 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PaddleOCR leads on adoption by 52% (89,745 vs 59,036 stars). PaddleOCR is written in Python under Apache-2.0; LiteLLM is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence. PaddleOCR has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, LiteLLM 20%. LiteLLM 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
| PaddleOCR | LiteLLM | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 59K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 12K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PaddleOCR if
- You weight community size — 90K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick LiteLLM if
- You want the LiteLLM feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and LiteLLM fits your workflow better
About PaddleOCR
PaddleOCR is an Apache 2.0 Python OCR and document AI toolkit that converts PDFs and images into structured, LLM ready JSON or Markdown across more than 100 languages, and it is built for developers who need to feed documents into RAG pipelines, agents, and document parsing services.
read the full PaddleOCR overview →
About LiteLLM
LiteLLM is an open source AI gateway that provides a unified interface to call over 100 large language model (LLM) providers—including OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock, Google VertexAI, and vLLM—using the OpenAI compatible API format. It runs as both a Python SDK for direct integration and as a standalone proxy server for centralized, team or organization wide use.
read the full LiteLLM overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is PaddleOCR or LiteLLM more popular?
PaddleOCR has 89,745 GitHub stars and LiteLLM has 59,036. PaddleOCR has the larger community by that measure.
Are PaddleOCR and LiteLLM free?
Both are open source. PaddleOCR is licensed under Apache-2.0, and LiteLLM has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between PaddleOCR and LiteLLM?
PaddleOCR is written in Python and LiteLLM 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, PaddleOCR or LiteLLM?
Choose PaddleOCR if you want the larger community (89,745 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose LiteLLM if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.