Mayan EDMS review

Mayan EDMS is the most formal document management system here, closer to records management than to a shared drive. It runs automatic OCR with Tesseract, and the OCR work can be spread across several machines; it also extracts the text layer from PDF and office documents so they are searchable without OCR. Documents carry metadata types, which can follow standards such as Dublin Core and have default values, plus color coded tags. Workflows, versions, retention policies, event tracking, indexing and a self-documenting REST API round it out, across more than 90 application modules. The project has been developed since 2011, and the vendor sells support, migration help and training. All of that depth comes with effort: the recommended install is Docker Compose, there are many settings to learn, and the interface is less friendly than Paperless-ngx for a team that only wants to tag and find files.

Who it is for

Teams with IT skills that need records management features such as metadata types, workflows and retention without license fees.

Price

Free and open source; paid support, migration help and training are available from the vendor.

Mayan EDMS is the leading enterprise-grade free and open source electronic document management system.
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 10, 2026.

Key features

• Automatic OCR with the Tesseract engine, distributable across several machines
• Text extraction from PDF and office documents for search
• Metadata types with default values and color coded tags
• Workflows, document versions, retention policies and event tracking
• Self-documenting REST API and more than 90 application modules

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Deep records management features at no license cost
• Strength: Developed continuously since 2011
• Strength: Vendor offers paid support if you need it later
• Weakness: Hardest to set up and learn on this list
• Weakness: Docker Compose install and server upkeep are on you
• Weakness: Interface is built for structure rather than quick sharing

Key facts

• License: Free and open source
• Recommended install: Docker Compose
• Modules: More than 90
• In development since: 2011

Where it ranks

Mayan EDMS is No. 6 in our Best Free Document Management Software verdict.