Paperparrot vs Swift Paperless
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Paperparrot
Organize your documents effortlessly with this native client for Paperless-ngx. Upload, scan, and secure files in various formats. Enjoy offline access, custom views, and powerful search capabilities.
- Connect to multiple Paperless-ngx instances
- Add documents in various formats
- Scan documents via camera or network scanner
- Secure documents with Face/Touch ID
- Extensive search and Spotlight support
- Create custom document views
- Offline document synchronization
Read full descriptionHide full description
Paperparrot is an app designed to make organizing your documents easy and it's completely compatible with Paperless-ngx. Features: - Connect to multiple Paperless-ngx-Instances - Add documents in various formats like PDF, JPEG, PNG, TXT or office documents - Scan documents from right within Paperparrot using your phones camera or an Airscan-capable network scanner - Secure your documents using Face-/Touch-ID - Extensive search capabilities - Support for Spotlight search to find documents from your home screen - Create custom views to easily access sets of documents - Share documents to Paperparrot from other apps - Synchronize documents from your Paperless-ng(x) server to your device for offline access - Built in support for push notifications from your server (additional setup required)* - Dark mode! * The free version of Paperparrot is limited to six documents and some features like custom queries and push notifications are unavailable. These limitation can be removed through an in-app purchase. There is both a one-time purchase or an optional auto-renewing subscription (1 month free trial included). The one-time purchase unlocks all current and future updates. With the subscription, all features are available for the duration of your subscription. Both the subscription and one-time purchase can be shared with your family. Paperparrot is licensed under the Apple standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Swift Paperless
This app allows users to manage documents directly from their iOS device. It seamlessly integrates with a self-hosted document management system, ensuring data privacy and control. Easily find, categorize, and add new documents on the go.
- Native iOS integration
- Paperless-ngx compatibility
- Document finding
- Document categorization
- Add documents from phone
Read full descriptionHide full description
Swift Paperless is a native iOS app that interacts with the popular Paperless-ngx document management software. Paperless-ngx is self-hosted, and therefore fully privacy preserving: you control your data! With Swift Paperless, it's easy to find, categorize and also add documents from your phone!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Swift Paperless at free against Paperparrot's free with in-app purchases. Swift Paperless also leads on review sentiment (97% vs 87%) and ratings volume (77 vs 17). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Paperparrot sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per year and Swift Paperless sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Paperparrot against 4.9 for Swift Paperless. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 17 and 77 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Paperparrot's written reviews are positive against 97% of Swift Paperless's.
Paperparrot ships an update every 5 weeks, Swift Paperless monthly. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.
| Parameter | Paperparrot | Swift Paperless |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (17 ratings) — better | 4.9 (77 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 86.8% of reviews | 97.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 17 | 77 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 46 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Leo Wehrfritz | Paul Gessinger |
Customer experience
Paperparrot
Swift Paperless
User reviews
Paperparrot
From 17 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent Paperless-NGX client
- 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
- 👍 Great value for the price
- 👍 Seamless integration with Paperless-NGX
- 👍 Fast and reliable performance
Room to improve
- 🐛 Rudimentary tag updates
- 🐛 Unreliable scanner search
- 🐛 Bonjour search needs reliability
- 🐛 Needs better language implementation
- 🐛 Ergonomics need improvement
Swift Paperless
From 77 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fast and efficient performance
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- ✨ Modern and clean design
- ✅ Seamless integration with Paperless-ngx
- 📱 Excellent mobile scanning feature
Room to improve
- 🐛 Metadata box not resizable on iPhone 13 Mini
- 🐛 Document upload screen sometimes exits unexpectedly
- 🐛 Extra step to access iOS share sheet
- 🐛 Can't scroll multi-page PDFs on iPad
- 🐛 Document scan function buried in menus
Bugs and requests
Paperparrot
Reported bugs
12 issues- App crashes on start
- Everything disappeared
- Saved views in Paperless are mixed with other documents in the app
- Custom fields and their values are not displayed correctly
- Filtering by custom field values does not work
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Custom views based on custom fields do not work
- Constant reloading needed when documents change
- App stalls and doesn't let you choose another instance if current is not working
- Duplicate imports of documents
- Data loss in remaining entries after removing duplicates
- Not all PDF files can be opened (e.g., converted EML files)
- Scanner search is unreliable
Requested features
12 requests- AI assistant for document questions (like Gemini Notebook)
- Integration with Openrouter for AI
- Chinese language support
- Improved multi-edit functionality (e.g., 'Select' button, bottom toolbar)
- Integration with Files app
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Option to change theme colors
- Scanner remembers last used options
- Notification upon completion of large document processing
- Ability to select tags without the list disappearing
- Use archived document for display instead of original
- Copy-paste document capture
- Support for opening converted EML files directly
Swift Paperless
Reported bugs
7 issues- Metadata box not resizable on iPhone 13 Mini
- Document upload screen sometimes exits unexpectedly
- Extra step to access iOS share sheet
- Cannot scroll multi-page PDFs on iPad
- Server removal from list upon logout
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Editing area only half screen after update
- App crying about certificate issue with HTTPS
Requested features
12 requests- Ability to quickly open next document in current view (like 'save & next')
- Option to hide preview side bar for full-screen document view
- Smarter server management in multi-instance setup
- Ability to search within a document
- Support for Title view only without thumbnails
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Siri Shortcuts support for adding documents
- Option to add from a network scanner
- Support for SSO
- Ability to copy file content from the app
- Option to send documents from archive via share menu (e.g., email)
- Grid view with thumbnails on iPad
- Direct donation link in the app
In-app purchases
Paperparrot
- Subscription (1 Year)1 Month trial$2.991 Year
- Generous Tip$0.99
- Very Generous Tip$2.99
- Subscription (1 Year)$2.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Unlock All Features$4.99
- Super Generous Tip$9.99
Swift Paperless
- Coffee money$3.99
- Proper thank-you$8.99
- Above and beyond$17.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Legendary generosity$44.99
Questions
Is Paperparrot free?
Is Swift Paperless free?
Which has better reviews, Paperparrot or Swift Paperless?
Do Paperparrot or Swift Paperless have ads?
Which is updated more often, Paperparrot or Swift Paperless?
Other comparisons















