Paperless-ngx vs Trilium Notes: which one to choose in 2026?
Both are open source alternatives to Evernote. We compare license, tech stack and features to help you decide which fits your team best.
| Paperless-ngx | Trilium Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity | Productivity |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| GitHub stars | ~26k | ~28k |
| Tech stack | Python, Django, PostgreSQL, Redis | Node.js, SQLite |
| Replaces | Evernote | Evernote, OneNote |
Trilium Notes has more GitHub stars, which usually indicates a larger community (not necessarily that it's the best option for your use case).
Paperless-ngx
Digital document archive with OCR, no paid scanning app subscription needed.
Pros
- Turns years of physical paperwork into something searchable in seconds
- Very active community, integrates well with network scanners
Things to consider
- OCR is CPU-intensive; very long documents can take a while
Trilium Notes
Hierarchical, encrypted notes, an alternative to Evernote/OneNote.
Pros
- Excellent for huge personal knowledge bases
Things to consider
- Less friendly interface for non-technical teams
Key features
Paperless-ngx
- Automatic OCR with text and language recognition
- Automatic tagging and correspondent matching by rules
- 'Consume' folder to scan and forget
Trilium Notes
- Unlimited hierarchical notes
- Encryption for sensitive notes
- Own scripting and automations
Already know which one you prefer?
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