OSI-licensed open source
Document management software stores, indexes, versions and secures business documents so they can be found and governed. Open-source systems let you keep sensitive files on your own infrastructure and avoid per-user licence fees, with trade-offs in setup and support.
The tools below range from personal and small-office scanners (Paperless-ngx, Docspell, Papermerge, Teedy) to enterprise content platforms (Alfresco Community, Nuxeo, Mayan EDMS, OpenKM). Licences were checked on each repository and archived projects were excluded.
Tools, licences and pricing checked against vendor and repository pages on November 7, 2026.
| Tool | Best for | Pricing | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paperless-ngx | Home and small-office scanned document archives | Free, open source | GPL-3.0 |
| Mayan EDMS | Teams needing workflows and metadata-rich archives | Free, open source (paid support and apps available) | Apache-2.0 |
| Alfresco Community Edition | Enterprise content services builds | Free, open source (Community; commercial editions available) | LGPL-3.0 |
| OpenKM Community | Java-based document repositories for small teams | Free, open source (Community; paid editions available) | GPL-2.0 |
| Teedy | Lightweight DMS for small teams | Free, open source | GPL-2.0 |
| Papermerge | Scanned archive management | Free, open source (paid options available) | Apache-2.0 |
| Docspell | Personal and family document organisation | Free, open source | AGPL-3.0 |
| Nuxeo | Developers building content applications | Free, open source (platform code; commercial products and support available) | Apache-2.0 |
Best for: Home and small-office scanned document archives · Free, open source
Paperless-ngx is a community-run document management system that scans, OCRs and indexes documents and applies tags and correspondents. It is designed for self-hosted, mostly paperless office use.
Best for: Teams needing workflows and metadata-rich archives · Free, open source (paid support and apps available)
Mayan EDMS is an electronic document management system with OCR, versioning, workflows, metadata and a REST API. It supports configurable document types and access controls.
Best for: Enterprise content services builds · Free, open source (Community; commercial editions available)
Alfresco is a content services platform whose Community Edition provides document repository, search, workflow and APIs. It is a Java-based system aimed at enterprise content use.
Best for: Java-based document repositories for small teams · Free, open source (Community; paid editions available)
OpenKM is a document management system with a Community Edition offering version control, metadata, full-text search and workflow. A paid Professional edition adds extra features.
Best for: Lightweight DMS for small teams · Free, open source
Teedy (formerly Sismics Docs) is a lightweight document management system with a web interface, full-text search, tagging and file upload. It targets small organisations.
Best for: Scanned archive management · Free, open source (paid options available)
Papermerge is an open-source document management system for digital archives with OCR, folder hierarchy and tagging, built around scanned documents.
Best for: Personal and family document organisation · Free, open source
Docspell is a personal document organiser with OCR, full-text search and automatic tagging via text analysis. It is built in Scala and deployable via Docker.
Best for: Developers building content applications · Free, open source (platform code; commercial products and support available)
Nuxeo is a content services platform with a platform codebase published openly. It provides metadata, workflows, search and APIs for building content-centric applications.
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| If you need… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Scanning paper at home or small office | Paperless-ngx, Docspell |
| Metadata and workflow-heavy archive | Mayan EDMS |
| Enterprise content platform | Alfresco Community Edition, Nuxeo |
| Folder-style scanned archive | Papermerge |
| Lightweight team repository | Teedy, OpenKM Community |
Quick answers to common questions
A DMS focuses on storing, versioning and finding documents. ECM or content services platforms add broader workflow, records and application-building capabilities.
It works well for small teams and archives. Larger organisations needing approval workflows often consider Mayan EDMS or Alfresco.
Most of the tools here include or integrate OCR, commonly through Tesseract. Check each project's documentation for the languages supported.
Export documents with metadata, test imports on a copy and verify search and permissions before switching.
List it on TechLogHub and we'll review it for this guide.
