head to head · open source
Docuseal vs Papermark
Docuseal has 18,979 GitHub stars, 1,933 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Papermark has 9,286 stars, 1,415 forks, 239 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Docuseal leads on adoption by 104% (18,979 vs 9,286 stars). Docuseal is written in Ruby under AGPL-3.0; Papermark is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Docuseal has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Papermark 15%. Docuseal was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (open-source, pdf, tailwindcss), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| Docuseal | Papermark | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 9.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Docuseal if
- You weight community size — 19K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Papermark if
- You want the Papermark feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Papermark fits your workflow better
About Docuseal
DocuSeal Open source document filling and signing DocuSeal is an open source platform that provides secure and efficient digital document signing and processing. Create PDF forms to have them filled and signed online on any device with an easy to use, mobile optimized web tool. ✨ Live Demo ☁️ Try in Cloud Features PDF form fields builder (WYSIWYG) 12 field types available (Signature, Date, File, Checkbox etc.) Multiple submitters per document Automated emails via SMTP Files storage on disk or AWS S3, Google Storage, Azure Cloud Automatic PDF eSignature PDF signature verification Users management Mobile optimized…
read the full Docuseal overview →
About Papermark
Papermark The open source DocSend alternative. papermark.com Papermark is the open source document sharing alternative to DocSend, featuring built in analytics and custom domains. Features Shareable Links: Share your documents securely by sending a custom link. Custom Branding: Add a custom domain and your own branding. Analytics: Gain insights through document tracking and soon page by page analytics. Self hosted, Open source: Host it yourself and customize it as needed. Demo Tech Stack Next.js – Framework TypeScript – Language Tailwind – CSS shadcn/ui UI Components Prisma ORM PostgreSQL Database NextAuth.js –…
read the full Papermark overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docuseal or Papermark more popular?
Docuseal has 18,979 GitHub stars and Papermark has 9,286. Docuseal has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docuseal and Papermark free?
Both are open source. Docuseal is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Papermark has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Docuseal and Papermark?
Docuseal is written in Ruby and Papermark in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Docuseal or Papermark?
Choose Docuseal if you want the larger community (18,979 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Papermark if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.