head to head · open source
pdfcpu vs papermerge-core
pdfcpu has 8,842 GitHub stars, 633 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. papermerge-core has 539 stars, 110 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. pdfcpu leads on adoption by 1,540% (8,842 vs 539 stars). pdfcpu is written in Go under Apache-2.0; papermerge-core is written in Python under Apache-2.0. pdfcpu has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, papermerge-core 20%. pdfcpu was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (pdf), 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
| pdfcpu | papermerge-core | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.8K | ★ 539 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 633 | ⑂ 110 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick pdfcpu if
- You weight community size — 8.8K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick papermerge-core if
- You want the papermerge-core 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 papermerge-core fits your workflow better
About pdfcpu
pdfcpu is a PDF processing library and command line tool written in Go. It lives in the Go and Golang ecosystem, is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license, and is listed under Business Software in the Document Management and E Signatures category. The project has existed for nine years, carries 8,835 stars and 628 forks, and lists 121 open issues. Its maintainer, Horst Rutter, is a member of the PDF Association, and the project documentation lives at pdfcpu.io. The GitHub topics attached to the repository are cli, go, golang, golang library, pdf, pdf files, and pdf tools, which describes both halves of what the…
read the full pdfcpu overview →
About papermerge-core
Papermerge DMS (papermerge core) is the open source core of Papermerge, a document management system in Python that OCRs scanned documents, indexes them, and makes them searchable for anyone who needs a long term digital archive rather than a folder full of loose files.
read the full papermerge-core overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pdfcpu or papermerge-core more popular?
pdfcpu has 8,842 GitHub stars and papermerge-core has 539. pdfcpu has the larger community by that measure.
Are pdfcpu and papermerge-core free?
Both are open source. pdfcpu is licensed under Apache-2.0 and papermerge-core under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pdfcpu and papermerge-core?
pdfcpu is written in Go and papermerge-core 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, pdfcpu or papermerge-core?
Choose pdfcpu if you want the larger community (8,842 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose papermerge-core if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.