The organized OCR vault, without the 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 native apps, team features and AI 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.
Native apps everywhere
First-party web, iOS and Android apps, instead of relying on third-party mobile clients pointed at your server.
AI and team features built in
A built-in MCP server, custom RBAC roles, groups and SSO come standard, no plugins or reverse proxies to assemble.
Feature by feature
Stoatify vs Paperless-ngx, side by side.
A fair look at how the two stack up for organizing the documents of real life.
| Capability | Stoatify | Paperless-ngx |
|---|---|---|
| Organize for real life | ||
| Purpose-built for life documents | ||
| Ready-made real-life categories (Taxes, Identity, Medical…) | Custom | |
| Tags, saved views & folders | ||
| Full-text OCR search inside scans & PDFs | ||
| AI auto-filing (category, tags, date) | Rules / ML | |
| Capture & automated intake | ||
| Drag, drop & mobile photo capture | Consume folder | |
| Private email / IMAP intake address | ||
| Watched folders, URL & CLI import | ||
| Formats & OCR breadth | ||
| Multi-language OCR (100+ languages) | ||
| Office / ODF (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) preview conversion | Add-on | |
| PDF/A archival copies | ||
| Collaborate & secure | ||
| Org sharing with roles (RBAC) | Basic users | |
| Per-document & per-folder permissions | ||
| Share links for a document or a whole search (password, expiry, registry) | Documents only | |
| SSO / SAML / OIDC | Self-managed | |
| Files proxied behind your auth (no public object URLs) | Self-hosted | |
| Versioning, audit & admin | ||
| Document versioning with one-click restore | Archive only | |
| Field-level before & after change history | Audit log | |
| Org-wide activity feed | Audit log | |
| Org usage & insights dashboard for documents | Statistics | |
| Organization audit log | Self-host | |
| Notify & integrate | ||
| Reminders / expiry tracking | ||
| Scheduled queries & notifications | ||
| Webhooks (events, signing secret, JSON filters) | Workflows | |
| Scoped API keys (per-resource permissions) | Token (full) | |
| CLI & TypeScript SDK | 3rd-party | |
| 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 | ||
| AI & platform | ||
| Built-in MCP server for AI assistants | ||
| Native web, iOS & Android apps | 3rd-party | |
| 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.
First-party apps
Stoatify ships native web, iOS and Android apps. Paperless-ngx relies on its web UI and community-built mobile apps.
Teams and SSO out of the box
Stoatify includes organizations, custom roles, groups, per-document ACLs and SSO without bolting on an auth proxy.
AI access built in
Stoatify's MCP server connects assistants directly to your vault with scoped, revocable access, no custom integration to write.
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 bring them into Stoatify by drag-and-drop or through an intake address or watched folder, where they'll be re-OCR'd and organized.
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 native apps, team features and AI 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
Give your paperwork a real home.
Bring your documents over from Paperless-ngx and see the difference organization makes. Free to start, no credit card.
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