Less Paper vs Paperless Document Scanner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Less Paper
This app provides a native mobile interface for paperless-ngx, allowing users to manage their documents on the go. It offers full search and filtering capabilities, document editing, and management of various metadata like tags and correspondents.
- Connect to multiple servers
- Full search and filter
- Edit documents
- Manage correspondents, types, views, and tags
- Import documents
- Supports password-protected documents
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Less Paper is a native iOS client for paperless-ngx, 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. Select several documents and change them together, merge them, or delete them in one go. READ IT WITH NO SERVER IN REACH Favorite a document and it is kept on the device in full — the PDF, its notes, metadata and custom fields. The Favorites 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. 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. Needs paperless-ngx 2.15.3 or newer. Universal: iPhone 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
Paperless Document Scanner
This app allows you to scan and edit documents directly from your phone. You can assign correspondents, document types, and tags before uploading them to your Paperless-ngx instance. It also supports configuring default settings for a streamlined workflow.
- Scan and edit documents
- Select from Files or Photos
- Assign correspondents, types, and tags
- Upload to Paperless-ngx
- Configure default settings
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Paperless Document Scanner is a document scanner app for Paperless-ngx. Features: * Scan and edit documents * Select documents from the Files or Photos app * Assign correspondents, document types, tags and ASN to a scanned document * Upload the scanned document to your Paperless-ngx instance * Configure default correspondents, document types, tags and storage paths
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Less Paper at 88% against Paperless Document Scanner's 0%. Less Paper also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.5) and update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). Paperless Document Scanner's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Less Paper sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Paperless Document Scanner asks for nothing beyond the download.
Less Paper holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 18 and 6 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Less Paper's written reviews are positive against 0% of Paperless Document Scanner's.
Less Paper ships an update weekly, Paperless Document Scanner fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 10, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Less Paper | Paperless Document Scanner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (18 ratings) — better | 4.5 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 87.5% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 18 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 39 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Johannes Plunien | Dennis App Development |
Customer experience
Less Paper
Paperless Document Scanner
In-app purchases
Less Paper
- PRO User$3.99
Paperless Document Scanner
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Less Paper free?
Is Paperless Document Scanner free?
Which has better reviews, Less Paper or Paperless Document Scanner?
Do Less Paper or Paperless Document Scanner have ads?
Which is updated more often, Less Paper or Paperless Document Scanner?
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