Everyday life
papermerge
Makes a pile of scanned paper searchable by its contents
★ 2.9k
September 2026
Apache-2.0
Everyday life
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). 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 44 tools we list in Everyday life
- No API key required40 of 44
- Keeps your data on your own machine20 of 44
- Commercial use confirmed as allowed29 of 44
- Requires terminal commands26 that do not →
Only 16 of the 44 meet all of the conditions above.
Counted from our own checks: every tool we list is examined against the same criteria.
What it does
A document management system for scans: OCR extracts the text, indexes it, and gives you full-text search over contracts, receipts and correspondence, wrapped in a dual-pane browser with folders, tags and drag-and-drop that behaves like a desktop file manager. PDF, TIFF, JPEG and PNG. Self-hosted, which makes backups and access control your responsibility — and this is precisely the kind of archive that should never sit on the open internet unauthenticated. Apache-2.0.
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.
papermerge FAQ
- Is papermerge 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 papermerge?
- It needs the command line. If you are not comfortable typing commands, expect to get stuck during setup.
- Does papermerge work on a phone?
- No. It needs a computer.
- Can I use papermerge commercially?
- The licence is Apache-2.0, which permits commercial use. Conditions such as keeping the copyright notice still apply, so read the licence text before shipping it inside something.
- Is papermerge still maintained?
- No. The project is archived on GitHub, so there will be no further features or bug fixes. It may work today, but nothing will be repaired when it breaks.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| papermerge (this page) | Required | Not needed | No | No | Yes |
| openrecall | Required | Not needed | No | No | Yes |
| Immich | Required | Not needed | No | No | Yes |
| Stirling-PDF | Required | Not needed | No | No | Yes |
"Sends data out" means your input is uploaded to someone's server. Pick "No" when the material cannot leave your organisation.