MinerU vs Paperless-AI
Short answer
MinerU: Document parser that converts PDFs, scans and Office files into clean Markdown or JSON for LLMs and RAG. Paperless-AI: AI auto-tagging and document chat for Paperless-ngx (currently unmaintained). Both are in our Document processing category.
Choose MinerU if you want: an actively maintained project (Paperless-AI is stale) and larger community (82.3k vs 6.0k GitHub stars).
Choose Paperless-AI if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Custom / conditional).
Paperless-AI publishes no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Last updated · computed from each project's official docs and live GitHub data · sources
MinerU vs Paperless-AI side by side
| MinerU | Paperless-AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Document processing | Document processing |
| What it is | Document parser that converts PDFs, scans and Office files into clean Markdown or JSON for LLMs and RAG. | AI auto-tagging and document chat for Paperless-ngx (currently unmaintained). |
| License | MinerU Open Source License (Apache-2.0 with additional terms) | MIT |
| License type | Custom / conditional | Permissive |
| License conditions | Commercial use is allowed without a separate license, unless you and your affiliates exceed 100 million monthly active users or USD 20 million monthly revenue. If you offer an online service to third parties based on MinerU, you must state prominently that it uses MinerU. | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the copyright notice. |
| Status | Active | Stale (no commit in 180+ days) |
| GitHub stars | 82.3k | 6.0k |
| Last commit | Oct 11, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Latest release | mineru-4.0.12-released | v3.0.9 |
| Minimum hardware | 2 GB RAM | Not published |
| Recommended hardware | Not published | Not published |
| RAM measured by us | Not tested yet | Not tested yet |
| GPU | Optional. The basic tier runs ONNX models on CPU; the standard/advanced tiers work on CPU with 8 GB RAM (Vulkan recommended). PyTorch and vLLM/lmdeploy engines need a GPU with 8 GB+ VRAM and 16 GB RAM. The official Docker image targets NVIDIA GPUs only. | Not required / not stated |
| Est. server cost | from €11.99/mo | Not estimated |
| Deploy method | Python package (uv/pip) with web UI; Docker Compose for NVIDIA GPUs | Docker |
| Known gotchas | 4 listed | 2 listed |
| Telemetry | On by default | Not documented |
| Calls home by default | Not documented | Not documented |
| SSO (OIDC / SAML / LDAP) | Not documented | Not documented |
| Audit log | Not documented | Not documented |
| RBAC | Not documented | Not documented |
| Details | Full MinerU guide → | Full Paperless-AI guide → |
Key differences
- License: MinerU: MinerU Open Source License (Apache-2.0 with additional terms) (Custom / conditional). Paperless-AI: MIT (Permissive).
- Official hardware: MinerU: minimum 2 GB RAM. Paperless-AI: not published.
- GPU: MinerU: optional / see notes. Paperless-AI: not required or not stated.
- Est. server cost: MinerU: from €11.99/mo. Paperless-AI: not estimated (no official RAM figure).
- Deploy: MinerU: Python package (uv/pip) with web UI; Docker Compose for NVIDIA GPUs · multi-container stack. Paperless-AI: Docker · multi-container stack.
- Status: MinerU: Active. Paperless-AI: Stale (no commit in 180+ days).
- GitHub stars: MinerU: 82.3k. Paperless-AI: 6.0k.
- Last commit: MinerU: Oct 11, 2026. Paperless-AI: Mar 31, 2026.
- Latest release: MinerU: mineru-4.0.12-released (Oct 11, 2026). Paperless-AI: v3.0.9 (Nov 4, 2025).
Same for both: Category: Document processing.
MinerU vs Paperless-AI: FAQ
MinerU or Paperless-AI: which should a small business choose?
Choose MinerU if you want: an actively maintained project (Paperless-AI is stale) and larger community (82.3k vs 6.0k GitHub stars). Choose Paperless-AI if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Custom / conditional). Paperless-AI publishes no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, MinerU or Paperless-AI?
MinerU: from €11.99/mo. Paperless-AI: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Our estimate is the cheapest Hetzner Cloud plan that meets each project's official RAM and vCPU figure; it covers the server only.
How much hardware do MinerU and Paperless-AI need?
MinerU: minimum 2 GB RAM. Paperless-AI: not published.
What is the license difference between MinerU and Paperless-AI?
MinerU: MinerU Open Source License (Apache-2.0 with additional terms) (Custom / conditional). Commercial use is allowed without a separate license, unless you and your affiliates exceed 100 million monthly active users or USD 20 million monthly revenue. If you offer an online service to third parties based on MinerU, you must state prominently that it uses MinerU. Paperless-AI: MIT (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the copyright notice. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is MinerU or Paperless-AI more actively maintained?
MinerU: Active, last commit Oct 11, 2026. Paperless-AI: Stale (no commit in 180+ days), last commit Mar 31, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Oct 22, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, MinerU or Paperless-AI?
MinerU installs via Python package (uv/pip) with web UI; Docker Compose for NVIDIA GPUs (multi-container stack); Paperless-AI via Docker (multi-container stack). MinerU lists 4 known gotchas and Paperless-AI lists 2; see each app page.
Related
Sources
- MinerU GitHub repository: github.com/opendatalab/MinerU
- MinerU documentation, MinerU deploy instructions: opendatalab.github.io/MinerU/quick_start/
- MinerU license: github.com/opendatalab/MinerU/blob/master/LICENSE.md
- MinerU hardware requirements: github.com/opendatalab/MinerU#model-engines-with-extras
- Paperless-AI GitHub repository: github.com/clusterzx/paperless-ai
- Paperless-AI documentation: github.com/clusterzx/paperless-ai/wiki/2.-Installation
- Paperless-AI license: github.com/clusterzx/paperless-ai/blob/main/LICENSE
- Paperless-AI hardware requirements, Paperless-AI deploy instructions: github.com/clusterzx/paperless-ai#readme
- Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-10-22): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
- GitHub REST API (stars, commits, releases): docs.github.com/en/rest
Every value is generated from the same verified data as the app pages. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.