head to head · open source
langchain vs PaddleOCR
langchain has 148,892 GitHub stars, 25,031 forks, 492 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PaddleOCR has 92,143 stars, 11,613 forks, 243 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. langchain leads on adoption by 62% (148,892 vs 92,143 stars). langchain is written in Python under MIT; PaddleOCR is written in Python under Apache-2.0. langchain has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, PaddleOCR 13%. langchain 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
| langchain | PaddleOCR | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 149K | ★ 92K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 12K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick langchain if
- You weight community size — 149K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick PaddleOCR if
- You want the PaddleOCR feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and PaddleOCR fits your workflow better
About langchain
The agent engineering platform. LangChain is a framework for building agents and LLM powered applications. It helps you chain together interoperable components and third party integrations to simplify AI application development — all while future proofing decisions as the underlying technology evolves. [!TIP] Just getting started? Check out Deep Agents — a higher level package built on LangChain for agents that have built in capabilities for common usage patterns such as planning, subagents, file system usage, and more. Quickstart If you're looking for more advanced customization or agent orchestration, check…
read the full langchain overview →
About PaddleOCR
Global Leading OCR Toolkit & Document AI Engine English 简体中文 繁體中文 日本語 한국어 Français Русский Español العربية PaddleOCR converts PDF documents and images into structured, LLM ready data (JSON/Markdown) with industry leading accuracy. With 70k+ Stars and trusted by top tier projects like Dify, RAGFlow, and Cherry Studio, PaddleOCR is the bedrock for building intelligent RAG and Agentic applications. 🚀 Key Features 📄 Intelligent Document Parsing (LLM Ready) Transforming messy visuals into structured data for the LLM era. SOTA Document VLM : Featuring PaddleOCR VL 1.6 (0.9B) , the industry's leading lightweight…
read the full PaddleOCR overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is langchain or PaddleOCR more popular?
langchain has 148,892 GitHub stars and PaddleOCR has 92,143. langchain has the larger community by that measure.
Are langchain and PaddleOCR free?
Both are open source. langchain is licensed under MIT and PaddleOCR under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between langchain and PaddleOCR?
langchain is written in Python and PaddleOCR 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, langchain or PaddleOCR?
Choose langchain if you want the larger community (148,892 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose PaddleOCR if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.