head to head · open source
Paperless-ngx vs Garage
Paperless-ngx has 47,590 GitHub stars, 3,330 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Garage has 4,812 stars, 185 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. Paperless-ngx leads on adoption by 889% (47,590 vs 4,812 stars). Paperless-ngx is written in Python under GPL-3.0; Garage is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. Paperless-ngx has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Garage 4%. Paperless-ngx 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
| Paperless-ngx | Garage | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 4.8K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 185 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Paperless-ngx if
- You weight community size — 48K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Garage if
- You want the Garage feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Garage fits your workflow better
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 →
About Garage
Garage === [ Website and documentation Binary releases Git repository Matrix channel ] Garage is an S3 compatible distributed object storage service designed for self hosting at a small to medium scale. Garage is designed for storage clusters composed of nodes running at different physical locations, in order to easily provide a storage service that replicates data at these different locations and stays available even when some servers are unreachable. Garage also focuses on being lightweight, easy to operate, and highly resilient to machine failures. Garage is built by Deuxfleurs, an experimental small scale…
read the full Garage overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Paperless-ngx or Garage more popular?
Paperless-ngx has 47,590 GitHub stars and Garage has 4,812. Paperless-ngx has the larger community by that measure.
Are Paperless-ngx and Garage free?
Both are open source. Paperless-ngx is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Garage under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Paperless-ngx and Garage?
Paperless-ngx is written in Python and Garage in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Paperless-ngx or Garage?
Choose Paperless-ngx if you want the larger community (47,590 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Garage if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.