Best self-hosted document management
A [document management system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Document_management_system) (DMS) is a system used to receive, track, manage and store documents and reduce paper.
We track 18 self-hosted document management projects. The median health score in this category is 70, against 8 projects rated healthy or better and 3 showing little recent activity. The table below is ordered by health score, not popularity — the most starred project in a category is frequently not the best maintained one.
| # | Project | Health | Activity | Stars | Built with | Last release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stirling-PDF Local hosted web application that allows you to perform various operations on PDF files, such as merging, splitting, fil | Thriving · 95 | 93k | Docker, Java | 26 Sept 2026 | |
| 2 | Paperless-ngx Scan, index, and archive all of your paper documents with an improved interface (fork of Paperless). | Thriving · 90 | 46k | Python, Docker | 20 Sept 2026 | |
| 3 | Docuseal Create, fill, and sign digital documents (alternative to DocuSign). | Thriving · 85 | 19k | Docker | 21 Sept 2026 | |
| 4 | Papra Minimalist document storage, management and archiving platform designed to be simple to use and accessible to everyone. | Thriving · 83 | 5.5k | Docker | 1 Sept 2026 | |
| 5 | Documenso Digital document signing platform (alternative to DocuSign). | Healthy · 78 | 15k | Nodejs, Docker | 9 Sept 2026 | |
| 6 | Gotenberg Developer-friendly API to interact with powerful tools like Chromium and LibreOffice for converting numerous document fo | Healthy · 76 | 13k | Docker | 11 Sept 2026 | |
| 7 | SnapOtter Suite of 200+ web tools for converting and editing images, videos, audio and PDFs, including a layer-based image editor, | Healthy · 71 | 2.8k | Docker | 29 Jul 2026 | |
| 8 | BentoPDF Powerful, privacy-first, client-side PDF toolkit that allows you to manipulate, edit, merge, and process PDF files direc | Healthy · 70 | 16k | Nodejs, Docker | 29 Aug 2026 | |
| 9 | OpenSign Document signing software (alternative to DocuSign). | Steady · 65 | 7k | Nodejs, Docker | 21 Aug 2026 | |
| 10 | Docspell Auto-tagging document organizer and archive. | Steady · 62 | 2.3k | Scala, Java | 22 Sept 2026 | |
| 11 | SimpleDMS Easy-to-use, metadata-driven, document management system (DMS) for small businesses that sorts documents almost by itsel | Steady · 54 | 168 | Docker | 8 Sept 2026 | |
| 12 | Signature PDF Sign and manipulate PDFs with collaboration, organization, compression and metadata editing. | Slowing · 43 | 831 | PHP, deb | 3 Dec 2025 | |
| 13 | Papermerge Document management system focused on scanned documents (electronic archives). Features file browsing in similar way to | At risk · 35 | 541 | Docker, K8S | 18 Aug 2025 | |
| 14 | I, Librarian Organize PDF papers and office documents. It provides a lot of extra features for students and research groups both in i | At risk · 16 | 352 | PHP | 2 Dec 2025 | |
| 15 | EveryDocs Simple Document Management System for private use with basic functionality to organize your documents digitally. | At risk · 15 | 416 | Docker, Ruby | 16 Oct 2019 | |
| 16 | Mayan EDMS Electronic document management system for your documents with preview generation, OCR, and automatic categorization amon | Unrated | — | Docker, K8S | — | |
| 17 | PdfDing PDF manager, viewer and editor offering a seamless user experience on multiple devices. It's designed to be minimal, fas | Unrated | — | Docker, K8S | — | |
| 18 | SeedDMS Document Management System with workflows, access rights, fulltext search, and more. | Unrated | — | PHP | — |
Which one should you run?
If you want the safest bet on longevity, Stirling-PDF is the best-maintained project in this category right now at 95/100. Paperless-ngx is the closest runner-up (90/100) — see the side-by-side comparison.
A health score measures whether a project is alive and shipping. It does not measure whether it has the feature you need. Use it to rule options out, then compare on features.