Best open source PDF editors and tools (self-hosted)

1

Stirling-PDF

Local hosted web application that allows you to perform various operations on PDF files, such as merging, splitting, file conversions and OCR.

Document ManagementDocker

95k

Stands out for the most GitHub stars. Stirling-PDF has 95,215 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,068 commits in the last year; it replaces Adobe Acrobat.

2

BentoPDF

Powerful, privacy-first, client-side PDF toolkit that allows you to manipulate, edit, merge, and process PDF files directly in your browser.

Document ManagementDocker

16k

Stands out for its JavaScript codebase. BentoPDF has 16,172 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,030 commits in the last year; it replaces Adobe Acrobat.

3

Gotenberg

Developer-friendly API to interact with powerful tools like Chromium and LibreOffice for converting numerous document formats (HTML, Markdown, Word, Excel, etc.) into PDF files, and more.

Document ManagementDocker

13k

Stands out for a permissive MIT license. Gotenberg has 13,465 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 396 commits in the last year; it replaces Adobe Acrobat.

4

OmniTools

Collection of powerful web-based tools for everyday tasks (coding, manipulating images/videos, PDFs or crunching numbers...).

UtilitiesDocker

10k

OmniTools has 10,472 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 600 commits in the last year.

5

SnapOtter

Suite of 200+ web tools for converting and editing images, videos, audio and PDFs, including a layer-based image editor, OCR, transcription, background removal and batch processing pipelines…

Document ManagementDocker

2.9k

AI-nativeStands out for the most commits in the last 12 months (3,694). SnapOtter has 2,870 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 3,694 commits in the last year.

1

Docuseal

Create, fill, and sign digital documents (alternative to DocuSign).

Document ManagementDocker

19k

Docuseal has 18,873 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,013 commits in the last year; it replaces DocuSign and Adobe Acrobat.

2

Documenso

Digital document signing platform (alternative to DocuSign).

Document ManagementDocker

16k

Documenso has 15,589 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 723 commits in the last year; it replaces DocuSign and Adobe Acrobat.

3

Signature PDF

Sign and manipulate PDFs with collaboration, organization, compression and metadata editing.

Document ManagementDocker

830

Signature PDF has 830 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 122 commits in the last year; it replaces DocuSign and Adobe Acrobat.

1

Paperless-ngx

Scan, index, and archive all of your paper documents with an improved interface (fork of Paperless).

Document ManagementDocker

47k

AI-nativePaperless-ngx has 47,176 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,786 commits in the last year.

2

Docspell

Auto-tagging document organizer and archive.

Document ManagementDocker

2.3k

Docspell has 2,342 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 88 commits in the last year.

3

Papermerge

Document management system focused on scanned documents (electronic archives). Features file browsing in similar way to dropbox/google drive. OCR, full text search, text overlay/selection.

Document ManagementDocker

549

Papermerge has 549 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 232 commits in the last year.