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Comparison · Collab

Paperless-ngx vs Nextcloud

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Paperless-ngx and Nextcloud — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Shared themes:self-hosted

Paperless-ngx vs Nextcloud: at a glance

FeaturePaperless-ngxNextcloud
SectorCollabCollab
Velocity score5.05.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesdocument-management, self-hosted, workflows, securityself-hosted, file-sharing, security-patches, performance
Last editorial update9d ago10h ago
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What is Paperless-ngx?

Paperless-ngx follows its busy October with a fixes-only 3.4.2

Paperless-ngx ran from 3.3.0 to 3.4.1 in October, with two security releases and a 3.4.0 feature drop: custom fields in workflow title templates, relative-date queries, skipping local 2FA for trusted OIDC logins, poppler thumbnails and markdown in AI chat. 3.4.2 on 3 November is fixes and dependency updates, mostly mobile document-detail UX and Celery task handling.

Read the full Paperless-ngx trajectory →

What is Nextcloud?

Nextcloud's November patches lean on preview speed and sharing fixes across three branches.

Nextcloud released 35.0.3, 34.0.6 and 33.0.11 on November 12, a month after the previous patch round. 35.0.3 is the largest, with about a dozen calendar and contacts sync fixes, faster cold preview generation, a cached mimetype table, share expiration times that are kept, share-by-mail passwords sent readable instead of hashed, and sharing with remote owners. The two older lines get the same sharing, encryption and audit-log backports.

Read the full Nextcloud trajectory →

Paperless-ngx vs Nextcloud: editorial side-by-side

P5.0

Paperless-ngx follows its busy October with a fixes-only 3.4.2

◆ Current state

Paperless-ngx ran from 3.3.0 to 3.4.1 in October, with two security releases and a 3.4.0 feature drop: custom fields in workflow title templates, relative-date queries, skipping local 2FA for trusted OIDC logins, poppler thumbnails and markdown in AI chat. 3.4.2 on 3 November is fixes and dependency updates, mostly mobile document-detail UX and Celery task handling.

◆ Where it's heading

The project is in a stabilization phase after 3.4.0, with patch releases every few days cleaning up UI regressions and dependencies. Feature work lands in minor releases roughly monthly.

◆ Prediction

More 3.4.x patches are likely before the next minor; the entries do not indicate what 3.5 will contain.

N
Nextcloud
COLLAB
5.0

Nextcloud's November patches lean on preview speed and sharing fixes across three branches.

◆ Current state

Nextcloud released 35.0.3, 34.0.6 and 33.0.11 on November 12, a month after the previous patch round. 35.0.3 is the largest, with about a dozen calendar and contacts sync fixes, faster cold preview generation, a cached mimetype table, share expiration times that are kept, share-by-mail passwords sent readable instead of hashed, and sharing with remote owners. The two older lines get the same sharing, encryption and audit-log backports.

◆ Where it's heading

Since the 35.0 major in September, Nextcloud has returned to its monthly three-branch patch rhythm. The fixes concentrate on sharing correctness, CalDAV/CardDAV sync and performance on large instances, with few new features. The 35 line receives small additions, such as remote share owners, that the older branches do not.

◆ Prediction

The next patch round should land in mid-December on the same three branches; the entries do not show when 36 development will surface.

Alternatives to Paperless-ngx and Nextcloud

Other Collab products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Paperless-ngx or Nextcloud.

See all Paperless-ngx alternatives → · See all Nextcloud alternatives →

Recent activity from Paperless-ngx and Nextcloud

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 2d agoNextcloudNextcloud 34.0.6: sharing, encryption and upload backports
  2. 2d agoNextcloudNextcloud 33.0.11: sharing and legacy DAV auth backports
  3. 2d agoNextcloudNextcloud 35.0.3: faster previews, sync and sharing fixes
  4. 10d agoPaperless-ngxPaperless-ngx 3.4.2 fixes mobile UI and task handling
  5. 14d agoPaperless-ngxPaperless-ngx 3.4.1 fixes UI regressions from 3.4.0
  6. 15d agoPaperless-ngxPaperless-ngx 3.4.0 adds relative-date queries and OIDC 2FA skip
  7. 22d agoPaperless-ngxPaperless-ngx 3.3.4 updates dependencies for security fixes
  8. 25d agoPaperless-ngxPaperless-ngx 3.3.3 fixes search layout and subpath redirects
  9. 29d agoPaperless-ngxPaperless-ngx 3.3.2 fixes a permissions security issue
  10. 1mo agoNextcloudNextcloud 35.0.2: webhook metadata, sharing fixes, report API
  11. 1mo agoNextcloudNextcloud 34.0.5: share CSRF fix, log redaction, sharing backports
  12. 1mo agoNextcloudNextcloud 33.0.10: share CSRF fix and sharing backports

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Paperless-ngx and Nextcloud?

Both compete on the same themes — self-hosted — within Collab. Paperless-ngx and Nextcloud are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Paperless-ngx better than Nextcloud?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Paperless-ngx and Nextcloud are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Collab products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Paperless-ngx?

Top Paperless-ngx alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Paperless-ngx alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/paperless-ngx for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Nextcloud?

Top Nextcloud alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Nextcloud alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/nextcloud for the full list with editorial commentary on each.