head to head · open source
pdfcpu vs Papra
pdfcpu has 8,842 GitHub stars, 633 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Papra has 5,466 stars, 301 forks, 190 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pdfcpu leads on adoption by 62% (8,842 vs 5,466 stars). pdfcpu is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Papra is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. pdfcpu has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Papra 6%. Papra 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
| pdfcpu | Papra | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.8K | ★ 5.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 633 | ⑂ 301 |
| 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 Papra if
- You want the Papra 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 Papra 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 Papra
Papra is a minimalistic, self hostable, open source document management and archiving platform, written in TypeScript under the AGPL 3.0 licence, for anyone who needs to store documents for the long term and find them again later.
read the full Papra overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pdfcpu or Papra more popular?
pdfcpu has 8,842 GitHub stars and Papra has 5,466. pdfcpu has the larger community by that measure.
Are pdfcpu and Papra free?
Both are open source. pdfcpu is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Papra under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pdfcpu and Papra?
pdfcpu is written in Go and Papra 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, pdfcpu or Papra?
Choose pdfcpu if you want the larger community (8,842 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Papra if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.