head to head · open source
Papermark vs PaperKnife
Papermark has 9,181 GitHub stars, 1,396 forks, 239 open issues and last shipped 21 days ago. PaperKnife has 1,459 stars, 103 forks, 47 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Papermark leads on adoption by 529% (9,181 vs 1,459 stars). Papermark is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; PaperKnife is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Papermark has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, PaperKnife 7%. PaperKnife 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, typescript), 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
| Papermark | PaperKnife | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.2K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-28 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 103 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Papermark if
- You weight community size — 9.2K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick PaperKnife if
- You want the PaperKnife feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and PaperKnife fits your workflow better
About Papermark
Papermark open source document sharing alternative to DocSend. Project lives in Next.js/TypeScript web stack, category Business Software / Document Management & E Signatures. GitHub metadata: 9166 stars, 1392 forks, 239 open issues, last push 2026 08 28T15:58:25Z. README says built in analytics and custom domains. It is self hosted, open source, and customizable as needed. License field says NOASSERTION, so license terms need separate check.
read the full Papermark overview →
About PaperKnife
PaperKnife is a privacy first PDF utility built with React and TypeScript and distributed as a web application and an Android application. It belongs to the open source document management and PDF tools ecosystem, and its stated architecture is zero server: documents are processed on the user's device instead of being uploaded to a remote service. Core processing uses pdf lib and pdfjs dist in a sandboxed WebAssembly environment, the Android version is powered by Capacitor, and the repository is licensed under AGPL 3.0.
read the full PaperKnife overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Papermark or PaperKnife more popular?
Papermark has 9,181 GitHub stars and PaperKnife has 1,459. Papermark has the larger community by that measure.
Are Papermark and PaperKnife free?
Both are open source. Papermark has no licence declared in this registry, and PaperKnife is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Papermark and PaperKnife?
Papermark is written in TypeScript and PaperKnife 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, Papermark or PaperKnife?
Choose Papermark if you want the larger community (9,181 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose PaperKnife if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.