Stoatify vs Paperless-ngx
An OCR vault with no server to run.
Paperless-ngx and Stoatify believe the same thing: documents should be OCR'd, tagged and instantly findable. The difference is operations. Paperless-ngx is yours to host, secure, back up and update. Stoatify delivers the same idea as a managed, secure service with a polished web app, team features and e-signatures built in.
A free, open-source, self-hosted document manager with OCR.
Why people move to Stoatify
Built to be a vault, not a drive.
Managed and secure
No server to patch, no OCR pipeline to babysit, no backups to script. Stoatify runs it for you, securely and with proxied file access.
A first-party web app
A first-party, full-featured web app, instead of relying on third-party clients pointed at your server.
Signing and teams built in
E-signatures, organizations, built-in roles and groups come together without plugins or reverse proxies.
Feature by feature
Stoatify vs Paperless-ngx, side by side.
A fair look at how the two stack up for organizing and managing documents.
| Capability | Stoatify | Paperless-ngx |
|---|---|---|
| Organize documents | ||
| Purpose-built for document management | ||
| Starter categories for personal and organization records | Custom | |
| Tags, saved views & custom fields | ||
| Full-text OCR search inside scans & PDFs | ||
| Capture | ||
| Drag, drop & photo capture | Consume folder | |
| Collaborate & secure | ||
| Org sharing with roles (RBAC) | Basic users | |
| Share links for a document or a whole search (password, expiry, registry) | Documents only | |
| Files proxied behind your auth (no public object URLs) | Self-hosted | |
| Versioning & history | ||
| Document versioning with one-click restore | Archive only | |
| Field-level before & after change history | Audit log | |
| Org-wide activity feed | Audit log | |
| E-signatures | ||
| Drag-and-drop template / form builder | ||
| Signable field types (signature, initials, date, checkbox…) | ||
| Multi-party signing with configurable order | ||
| Cryptographic PDF signing (PAdES/PKCS7) & verification | ||
| Plan | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Self-host |
The differences that matter
What actually changes day to day.
Managed vs self-hosted
Paperless-ngx is free software you operate yourself: hosting, TLS, OCR, backups and upgrades are on you. Stoatify is a managed service with those handled.
A first-party web app
Stoatify ships a polished, first-party web app. Paperless-ngx relies on its web UI and community-built clients.
Team document management out of the box
Stoatify includes organizations, built-in roles, groups, invitations and private file delivery without bolting on an auth proxy.
E-signatures built in
Stoatify has a drag-and-drop signable-PDF builder, multi-party signing and cryptographically sealed results, no separate signing tool to run.
In fairness
When Paperless-ngx is the better choice.
If you're technical, value full control and zero subscription cost, and you're happy owning hosting, security, backups and updates, Paperless-ngx is genuinely excellent and we admire it. Stoatify is for people who want that same organized, OCR-searchable vault without running and maintaining a server.
FAQ
Switching from Paperless-ngx.
Can I migrate from Paperless-ngx?+
Yes. Export your documents and drag them into Stoatify, where they'll be re-OCR'd and organized into categories.
Is Stoatify open-source like Paperless-ngx?+
Stoatify is a managed product rather than self-hosted software. It trades self-hosting for a maintained, secure service with a polished web app, team features and e-signatures included.
Does Stoatify OCR everything like Paperless?+
Yes. Every document is OCR'd so its contents are searchable, paired with categories, tags, saved views and structured filters.
Compare Stoatify with more tools
Manage your documents from one secure platform.
Bring your documents over from Paperless-ngx and see the difference organization makes. Free to start, no credit card.
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