Docs & PDF Q&A
docspell
Scans in, organised documents out — for one person or a small office
★ 2.3k
September 2026
AGPL-3.0
Docs & PDF Q&A
What we checked ourselves
Not copied from the project's own blurb. These are things we opened and verified, with the date.
- 7 Sept 2026We checked that the link to the project still resolves.
- 13 Sept 2026We read the licence text itself (LICENSE.txt). No unusual restrictions were stated.
- 31 Aug 2026We read the project's own documentation and found no sign that development has stopped.
Where this sits among the 62 tools we list in Docs & PDF Q&A
- No API key required31 of 62
- Keeps your data on your own machine20 of 62
- Commercial use confirmed as allowed52 of 62
- Requires terminal commands19 that do not →
Only 17 of the 62 meet all of the conditions above.
Counted from our own checks: every tool we list is examined against the same criteria.
What it does
Ingests scans, email attachments and files, OCRs them, then guesses correspondent, date and tags so the archive organises itself rather than waiting for you to file it. Full-text search and multi-user access on top. A demo runs on the project site. Self-hosted, so authentication, TLS and backups are yours to arrange — and contracts and invoices are the wrong thing to leave open. Not an AI assistant: OCR and inference, no chat. AGPL-3.0.
Summary based on the project's own description. The Japanese page has a fuller beginner guide: setup difficulty, what to prepare, and a step-by-step start.
Screenshots & visuals
Before you start
- Setup difficultySome setup needed
- Command lineRequired
- API keyNot required
- Sends data onlineNo
Judged automatically from the project's own metadata. Always confirm on the official page.
docspell FAQ
- Is docspell free?
- Yes. It runs on your own machine, so there is no usage-based cost either.
- Do I need to install anything or write code to use docspell?
- It needs the command line. If you are not comfortable typing commands, expect to get stuck during setup.
- Does docspell work on a phone?
- No. It needs a computer.
- Can I use docspell commercially?
- The licence is AGPL-3.0. Using it commercially is fine, but if you distribute something built on it you may be required to release that under the same licence. Keep it internal, or check before distributing.
How it compares
The conditions that decide whether you can actually use it, side by side.
| Tool | Command line | API key | Sends data out | Phone | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| docspell (this page) | Required | Not needed | No | No | Yes |
| OCRmyPDF | Required | Not needed | No | No | Yes |
| zerox | Required | Required | Yes | No | Yes |
| paper-qa | Required | Required | Yes | No | Yes |
"Sends data out" means your input is uploaded to someone's server. Pick "No" when the material cannot leave your organisation.