head to head · open source
pdfcpu vs Wraft
pdfcpu has 8,842 GitHub stars, 633 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Wraft has 165 stars, 31 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. pdfcpu leads on adoption by 5,259% (8,842 vs 165 stars). pdfcpu is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Wraft is written in Elixir under AGPL-3.0. pdfcpu has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Wraft 19%. pdfcpu 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 | Wraft | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.8K | ★ 165 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Elixir |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-07-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 633 | ⑂ 31 |
| 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 Wraft if
- You want the Wraft feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Elixir
- You evaluated both and Wraft 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 Wraft
Wraft is an open source Document Lifecycle Management platform for teams that need to author, collaborate on, and distribute structured business documents such as official letters and contracts while keeping their content in open markdown and JSON formats.
read the full Wraft overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pdfcpu or Wraft more popular?
pdfcpu has 8,842 GitHub stars and Wraft has 165. pdfcpu has the larger community by that measure.
Are pdfcpu and Wraft free?
Both are open source. pdfcpu is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Wraft under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pdfcpu and Wraft?
pdfcpu is written in Go and Wraft in Elixir. 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 Wraft?
Choose pdfcpu if you want the larger community (8,842 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Wraft if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.