head to head · open source
pdfcraft vs paperless-mobile
pdfcraft has 20,059 GitHub stars, 7,439 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped yesterday. paperless-mobile has 1,502 stars, 112 forks, 135 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pdfcraft leads on adoption by 1,235% (20,059 vs 1,502 stars). pdfcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; paperless-mobile is written in Dart under GPL-3.0. pdfcraft has attracted 37% as many forks as stars, paperless-mobile 7%. pdfcraft 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| pdfcraft | paperless-mobile | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 20K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-11-09 | 2026-11-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.4K | ⑂ 112 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick pdfcraft if
- You weight community size — 20K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick paperless-mobile if
- You want the paperless-mobile feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and paperless-mobile fits your workflow better
About pdfcraft
PdfCraft The PDF workbench; an open source, clean room reimplementation of Adobe Acrobat, rebuilt in pure Rust. Read, organize, combine, split and secure PDFs in a fast, native app, written in Rust from the ground up. macOS · Windows · Linux · FreeBSD · the web PdfCraft on getartcraft.com · ArtCraft · All Crafting Apps The PdfCraft Showcase, a 13 page specimen PDF, open with the All tools panel and threaded comments. [!NOTE] ArtCraft is a community of artists from all walks of life. Digital, generative, music, games — if you make things, you're one of us. Come say hi on Discord. Highlights · Read · Find ·…
read the full pdfcraft overview →
About paperless-mobile
[![Contributors][contributors shield]][contributors url] [![Forks][forks shield]][forks url] [![Stargazers][stars shield]][stars url] [![Issues][issues shield]][issues url] [![MIT License][license shield]][license url] Paperless Mobile An (almost) fully fledged mobile paperless client. Report Bug · Request Feature About The Project Paperless Mobile brings paperless ngx to your smartphone without any compromises. While you can use paperless ngx from a mobile browser, managing your documents this way is often a tedious and slow process. The app integrates a custom scanner, biometric authentication and many more…
read the full paperless-mobile overview →
More in Business Software
Related comparisons
More Document Management & E-Signatures projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Document Management & E-Signatures field.
Frequently asked questions
Is pdfcraft or paperless-mobile more popular?
pdfcraft has 20,059 GitHub stars and paperless-mobile has 1,502. pdfcraft has the larger community by that measure.
Are pdfcraft and paperless-mobile free?
Both are open source. pdfcraft is licensed under Apache-2.0 and paperless-mobile under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pdfcraft and paperless-mobile?
pdfcraft is written in Rust and paperless-mobile in Dart. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, pdfcraft or paperless-mobile?
Choose pdfcraft if you want the larger community (20,059 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose paperless-mobile if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.