head to head · open source
PaddleOCR vs outlines
PaddleOCR has 92,143 GitHub stars, 11,613 forks, 243 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. outlines has 15,998 stars, 911 forks, 166 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. PaddleOCR leads on adoption by 476% (92,143 vs 15,998 stars). PaddleOCR is written in Python under Apache-2.0; outlines is written in Python under Apache-2.0. PaddleOCR has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, outlines 6%. outlines 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 | outlines | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 92K | ★ 16K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 911 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PaddleOCR if
- You weight community size — 92K 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 outlines if
- You want the outlines 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 outlines fits your workflow better
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 →
About outlines
🗒️ Structured outputs for LLMs 🗒️ Made with ❤👷️ by the team at .txt Trusted by NVIDIA, Cohere, HuggingFace, vLLM, etc. [![PyPI Version][pypi version badge]][pypi] [![Downloads][downloads badge]][pypistats] [![Stars][stars badge]][stars] [![Discord][discord badge]][discord] [![Blog][dottxt blog badge]][dottxt blog] [![Twitter][twitter badge]][twitter] The .txt API is currently in early access. Request access here → 🚀 Building the future of structured generation We're working with select partners to develop new interfaces to structured generation. Need XML, FHIR, custom schemas or grammars? Let's talk. Audit…
read the full outlines overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is PaddleOCR or outlines more popular?
PaddleOCR has 92,143 GitHub stars and outlines has 15,998. PaddleOCR has the larger community by that measure.
Are PaddleOCR and outlines free?
Both are open source. PaddleOCR is licensed under Apache-2.0 and outlines under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PaddleOCR and outlines?
PaddleOCR is written in Python and outlines 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 outlines?
Choose PaddleOCR if you want the larger community (92,143 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose outlines if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.