How much RAM does Paperless-ngx need?

The three-container stack (Django webserver + PostgreSQL 16 + Redis 7) idles around 400–512 MB RAM. A 2 GB VPS is the recommended minimum; OCR processing of multi-page documents temporarily spikes CPU but does not require extra RAM. A 4 GB plan is comfortable for teams or large archives.

Is a domain name required?

No. Paperless-ngx is accessible by IP and port (8000) out of the box. A domain is recommended for production — it enables HTTPS via a reverse proxy and correct document links in email notifications. You can add a domain at any time after the initial deploy.

Is Paperless-ngx free to self-host?

Yes. Paperless-ngx is AGPL-3.0 open-source software — free to use, modify and self-host with no per-document fees, no storage limits and no cloud subscription. You pay only for the ServOrbit VPS.

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Paperless-ngx

Self-hosted GED — OCR, auto-tagging and full-text search for all your documents. AGPL-3.0, 43 k+ stars, Django + PostgreSQL + Redis.

2 GB RAM 2 vCPU Port 8000 Available

Tech stack

DockerDjangoPostgreSQL 16Redis 7Tesseract OCR

Minimum RAM2 GB

Minimum CPU2 vCPU

Default port8000

Compatible OSChoice of Linux distributions

Paperless-ngx is a community-maintained, open-source document management system (AGPL-3.0, 43 k+ stars) that transforms your physical and digital documents into a searchable, well-organised archive — entirely on your own VPS, with zero data leaving your infrastructure.

Upload a PDF or scan a paper document and Paperless-ngx automatically runs OCR via Tesseract (French, English, Arabic included), extracts the full text, matches the document against your rules (by sender email, keyword or regex), assigns a correspondent (e.g. "Tax Authority", "Bank"), a document type (e.g. "Invoice", "Contract") and a set of tags — all without any manual intervention. Every word in every document becomes instantly searchable.

The stack runs as three Docker containers: a Django/Gunicorn webserver, a PostgreSQL 16 database and a Redis broker for the Celery task queue. A consumption directory lets you automate ingestion: drop a file in the folder, share it via email or push it from a scanner, and the document is processed and filed automatically. The REST API opens the door to integrations with n8n, Nextcloud, your ERP or any custom workflow.

Key features

Automatic OCR via Tesseract — every uploaded PDF or image becomes full-text searchable; multilingual (French, English, Arabic).

Auto-filing rules — assign correspondents, document types and tags automatically based on title, content or source.

Consumption inbox — a watched folder, email inbox or REST API endpoint for hands-off document ingestion from scanners or scripts.

Full-text search — instant results across millions of documents including scanned images, with filters by date, type, tag and correspondent.

REST API — query, upload, tag and download documents programmatically; integrates with n8n, Home Assistant, Nextcloud and custom apps.

Audit log — every create/update/delete action is logged with timestamp and user for GDPR and compliance workflows.

Multi-user with granular permissions — separate storage areas, shared labels and fine-grained access control.

Dark mode, customisable dashboard and list/detail views — polished web UI accessible from any browser.

AGPL-3.0 licence — no per-document quota, no SaaS cloud, no vendor lock-in; full data ownership.

When to use this solution?

1

Paperless office for SMEs

Replace paper filing cabinets and scattered PDFs with a centralised, searchable archive. Accountants drop invoices in the consumption folder; Paperless-ngx OCRs, tags and files them by supplier and month automatically. Auditors search for 'VAT refund 2025' and get the exact document in under a second — no more hunting through folders.

2

Personal finance and legal archive

Store bank statements, tax returns, lease agreements and insurance policies in one searchable place. Auto-tagging rules route every bank PDF to the right correspondent. Full-text search finds any clause in any contract. Encrypted backups via rsync or S3-compatible tools keep the archive safe — and 100% off cloud services.

3

Dev team runbook and compliance repository

Use Paperless-ngx as an internal document store for compliance artifacts: signed NDAs, server purchase invoices, audit reports, SSL certificate renewals. The REST API lets your CI pipeline auto-upload generated PDFs (reports, changelogs) immediately after each build. Tags and correspondents make GDPR audit trails effortless.

Deploy Paperless-ngx on your VPS

Guide optimized for ServOrbit Cloud VPS.

01

Order a ServOrbit VPS

Paperless-ngx runs comfortably on a 2 GB / 2 vCPU VPS (Ubuntu 24.04). The three containers — webserver, PostgreSQL and Redis — idle around 400–512 MB RAM. For large archives (100 k+ documents) or concurrent OCR jobs, a 4 GB plan gives comfortable headroom.

02

One-click deploy from the marketplace

Open your ServOrbit control panel, navigate to Marketplace → Collaboration & Productivity → Paperless-ngx, and click Deploy. Docker pulls ghcr.io/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx:latest, PostgreSQL 16 and Redis 7, then starts all three containers. An admin account is created automatically from the credentials provisioned at deploy time.

03

Log in and configure your first document type

If a domain is attached to the app, open https://your-domain — with no port number. Without a domain there is no public access: open an SSH tunnel with ssh -L 8000:127.0.0.1:8000 root@<your-vps-ip> (8000 is the catalogue port, given as an example — use the port shown on your app's card in the client area), then browse to http://localhost:8000. Log in with the admin credentials from your welcome email. Go to Settings → Document Types and create your first type (e.g. "Invoice", "Contract"). Then go to Correspondents and add the senders you deal with most often. Paperless-ngx uses these to auto-file incoming documents.

04

Set up a consumption method

The easiest way to feed documents is the consumption folder mounted at /usr/src/paperless/consume inside the container. On your VPS, files placed there are processed automatically. Alternatively, enable the email consumer (Settings → Mail) to pull attachments from a dedicated IMAP mailbox — perfect for forwarding scanned invoices or bank statements.

05

Create auto-filing rules

In Settings → Matching, create rules that automatically tag and file documents. Example: any document whose title contains 'Invoice' from 'your-supplier.com' → correspondent "Supplier", type "Invoice", tag "#accounting". Paperless-ngx tests each rule against every new document and applies all matches instantly.

06

Add a domain and enable HTTPS

A domain is not required, but without one there is no public access — the interface is reachable only through an SSH tunnel from your own machine. For permanent remote access, attach a domain to the app from your ServOrbit client area: the nginx vhost, the TLS certificate and the proxy to port 8000 on the loopback are all set up for you, with nothing to install. Then update PAPERLESS_URL in your .env to https://docs.your-domain.com so that document download links and email notifications use the correct URL. A subdomain like docs.your-domain.com is a clean convention.

Frequently asked questions

Paperless-ngx is a self-hosted, open-source document management system (AGPL-3.0, 43 k+ stars). It scans, OCRs and indexes physical and digital documents, files them automatically by correspondent, document type and tag, and makes every word searchable — all on your own VPS without any cloud dependency.

Yes. The Docker image bundles Tesseract with full language packs. PAPERLESS_OCR_LANGUAGE=fra+eng enables automatic OCR in French, English and Arabic simultaneously. You can add any Tesseract language by adjusting the environment variable — no additional packages needed inside the container.

Yes. Paperless-ngx exposes a full REST API documented at /api/. You can list, search, upload, tag, download and delete documents via HTTP. This makes it straightforward to trigger document ingestion from n8n workflows, Zapier, CI pipelines or any custom script.

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Recommended configuration: 2 GB RAM · 2 vCPU