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Comparison · Collab

Guru vs Paperless-ngx

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

Guru vs Paperless-ngx: at a glance

FeatureGuruPaperless-ngx
SectorCollabCollab
Velocity score5.05.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesknowledge-agents, data-governance, dlp, scimdocument-management, self-hosted, workflows, security
Last editorial update4h ago2h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Guru?

Guru's Knowledge Agents get the plumbing that makes their answers checkable and safe.

Guru's late-October releases all serve the Knowledge Agent. Agents can now return the records behind an analytical answer, read SCIM-provisioned profile attributes such as department and manager, and choose from sources admins can rename. On the governance side, DLP masking now covers what users type before it is logged or sent to the LLM, and each agent gets its own chat retention window of 1 to 90 days.

Read the full Guru trajectory →

What is Paperless-ngx?

Paperless-ngx shipped seven releases in October, two of them for security

Paperless-ngx ran from 3.3.0 to 3.4.1 in October. 3.3.0 added stored barcode contents and more control over LLM requests, 3.3.2 fixed a reported security issue, and 3.3.4 updated dependencies for the eMudhra CA incident plus Pillow and aiohttp vulnerabilities. 3.4.0 brought custom fields in workflow title templates, relative-date custom field queries, skipping local 2FA for trusted OIDC logins, poppler thumbnails and markdown in AI chat. The other releases were fixes, many around document versions and search.

Read the full Paperless-ngx trajectory →

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

G
Guru
COLLAB
5.0

Guru's Knowledge Agents get the plumbing that makes their answers checkable and safe.

◆ Current state

Guru's late-October releases all serve the Knowledge Agent. Agents can now return the records behind an analytical answer, read SCIM-provisioned profile attributes such as department and manager, and choose from sources admins can rename. On the governance side, DLP masking now covers what users type before it is logged or sent to the LLM, and each agent gets its own chat retention window of 1 to 90 days.

◆ Where it's heading

The arc runs from giving agents write access to making them auditable. Mid-October brought a rebuilt Teams app with AI answers, MCP image uploads into card drafts and answer editing for skills-based agents; late October shifted to data controls and to answers that show their workings. Guru is treating the agent as the main interface and the card base as what it works on.

◆ Prediction

Expect the stated Mermaid gap in Slack, email and exports to close, and more per-agent settings in the Guardrails section where retention now sits.

P5.0

Paperless-ngx shipped seven releases in October, two of them for security

◆ Current state

Paperless-ngx ran from 3.3.0 to 3.4.1 in October. 3.3.0 added stored barcode contents and more control over LLM requests, 3.3.2 fixed a reported security issue, and 3.3.4 updated dependencies for the eMudhra CA incident plus Pillow and aiohttp vulnerabilities. 3.4.0 brought custom fields in workflow title templates, relative-date custom field queries, skipping local 2FA for trusted OIDC logins, poppler thumbnails and markdown in AI chat. The other releases were fixes, many around document versions and search.

◆ Where it's heading

The AI features introduced in 3.x are being refined rather than expanded, while workflows and search get steady quality-of-life work.

◆ Prediction

Another 3.4.x patch for UI regressions is likely, following the 3.3.x pattern of several fix releases after each minor.

Alternatives to Guru and Paperless-ngx

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 Guru or Paperless-ngx.

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

Recent activity from Guru and Paperless-ngx

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

  1. 2d agoPaperless-ngxPaperless-ngx 3.4.1 fixes UI regressions from 3.4.0
  2. 3d agoGuruRename Sources and Folders or Drives
  3. 3d agoGuruKnowledge Agents Can Now Return the Records Behind the Numbers
  4. 3d agoGuruSCIM Now Fills in Guru Profile Attributes
  5. 3d agoPaperless-ngxPaperless-ngx 3.4.0 adds relative-date queries and OIDC 2FA skip
  6. 7d agoGuruMermaid diagrams in cards and Chat
  7. 7d agoGuruSet chat thread retention for each Knowledge Agent
  8. 7d agoGuruDLP masking now covers what users type
  9. 10d agoPaperless-ngxPaperless-ngx 3.3.4 updates dependencies for security fixes
  10. 13d agoPaperless-ngxPaperless-ngx 3.3.3 fixes search layout and subpath redirects
  11. 17d agoPaperless-ngxPaperless-ngx 3.3.2 fixes a permissions security issue
  12. 20d agoPaperless-ngxPaperless-ngx 3.3.1 fixes document version permissions

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Guru and Paperless-ngx?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Guru and Paperless-ngx 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 Guru better than Paperless-ngx?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Guru and Paperless-ngx 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 Guru?

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

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.