Paperless Less Paper vs Karakeep App
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Paperless Less Paper
This app provides a native iOS client for managing your self-hosted document archive. It allows for comprehensive searching, editing, and offline access to your documents, with robust server connection options and document organization tools.
- Comprehensive document searching with filters
- Edit documents and metadata directly
- Offline document access
- Import documents via share sheet
- Connect to multiple servers
- Manage tags, correspondents, and storage paths
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Less Paper is a native iOS client for paperless-ngx 3.x and earlier, the self-hosted document archive. It talks directly to your own server, and to nothing else. FIND ANYTHING The complete filter set from the web interface, custom fields included: title and content, correspondent, document type, storage path, tags, dates and ASN. Save any filter as a view, then create, edit and reorder your saved views without leaving the app. EDIT WHERE YOU ARE READING Fix a title, reassign a correspondent, add tags, notes or custom field values from the document itself — one Open menu leads to every section: Content, Custom fields, Details, History, Metadata and Notes, each editable when your account allows it. History lists who changed what and when, the way the web UI shows it. Select several documents and change them together, merge them, or delete them in one go. READ IT WITH NO SERVER IN REACH Save a document offline and it is kept on the device in full — the PDF, its notes, metadata and custom fields. The Offline tab reads those stored copies, so it works on a plane, in a basement, or anywhere your server is not. Pull to refresh and only the documents that actually changed are fetched again. GET DOCUMENTS IN Send anything on your device to paperless-ngx from the share sheet. Password-protected PDFs are unlocked on import, and the password is kept in the keychain so the next document from the same source opens without asking. The inbox then says what became of each one: File Tasks lists every import — which finished, which are still running, and which failed and why — and a failure can be dismissed once you have dealt with it. BUILT FOR REAL SETUPS Connect as many servers as you like and switch between them. Sign in with a password, or with the single sign-on provider your server is configured with. Client certificates, custom HTTP headers and reverse proxies such as Authelia are all supported. A restricted account works too: the app follows your user's permissions and simply does not show what you may not do. When something does go wrong, a local error log — with anything credential-shaped redacted out of it — is there to read and share, and nothing leaves the device unless you send it. KEEP THE ARCHIVE TIDY Create, rename and delete tags, correspondents, document types and storage paths, and set ownership and permissions on any document. Restore anything you deleted from the trash, or empty it for good. Works with every paperless-ngx from 2.15.3 to 3.x. Universal: iPhone, iPhone Duo and iPad — on iPad the document opens in a column beside the list rather than covering it. Less Paper is open source. Issues and feature requests are welcome at https://github.com/plu/less-paper
Karakeep App
Effortlessly save links, notes, and images with automatic AI-powered tagging for quick retrieval. Search through all your saved content, including link contents, at blazing fast speeds. Organize your saved items into custom lists and share content from any app.
- Automatic AI tagging
- Full-text search
- Custom lists
- Sharing extension
- Save links, notes, and images
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Quickly save links, notes, and images and karakeep will automatically tag them for you using AI for faster retrieval. Content (including link contents) are indexed for blazing fast full text search. Organize you items into custom lists. Sharing extension to hoard items from any other apps.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Karakeep App at none against Paperless Less Paper's 4. Karakeep App also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). Paperless Less Paper's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks) and rating (4.9 vs 4.6). On price, ratings volume, ads and monetization model 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. Paperless Less Paper sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Karakeep App asks for nothing beyond the download.
Paperless Less Paper holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 20 and 44 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Paperless Less Paper's written reviews are positive against 71% of Karakeep App's.
Paperless Less Paper ships an update weekly, Karakeep App every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on October 30, 2026.
| Parameter | Paperless Less Paper | Karakeep App |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (20 ratings) — better | 4.6 (44 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 87.5% of reviews — better | 70.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 20 | 44 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 41 MB | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Johannes Plunien | Mohamed Bassem |
Customer experience
Paperless Less Paper
Karakeep App
In-app purchases
Paperless Less Paper
- Tiny tip$1.00
- Small tip$4.00
- Medium tip$9.00
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- Large tip$22.00
Karakeep App
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Paperless Less Paper free?
Is Karakeep App free?
Which has better reviews, Paperless Less Paper or Karakeep App?
Do Paperless Less Paper or Karakeep App have ads?
Which is updated more often, Paperless Less Paper or Karakeep App?
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