Aleph
Tool for indexing large amounts of both documents (PDF, Word, HTML) and structured (CSV, XLS, SQL) data for easy browsing and search. It is built with investigative reporting as a primary use case.
Aleph vs Docs
Two self-hosted Knowledge Management Tools apps, compared on the facts we track: GitHub popularity and activity, license, language, Docker images and a rough hosting estimate.
Side by side
| Aleph | Docs | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Tool for indexing large amounts of both documents (PDF, Word, HTML) and structured (CSV, XLS, SQL) data for easy browsing and search. It is built with investigative reporting as a primary use case. | Collaborative note taking, wiki and documentation platform that scales. |
| GitHub stars | 2,501 | 16,970 |
| Forks | – | – |
| Open issues | – | – |
| Commits (12 months) | 4 | 1.1k |
| Last activity | 2025-12-19 | 2026-11-04 |
| Latest release | 4.1.7 (2025-10-27) | v6.0.4 (2026-10-26) |
| Maintenance health | Maintained | Active |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language / platform | Docker, K8S | K8S |
| Docker Hub image | alephdata/aleph | – |
| Docker pulls | 2308.9k | – |
| Est. server size | ~2 GB, 1 vCPU | ~1 GB, 1 vCPU |
| Est. hosting from | $10/mo | $5/mo |
| Categories | Search Engines, Knowledge Management Tools | Note-taking & Editors, Knowledge Management Tools |
| Links | Website · Source | Website · Source |
What the numbers say
- Docs is more popular on GitHub: 17k stars vs 2.5k for Aleph.
- Docs had more commits in the last 12 months (1,137 vs 4).
- Docs has more recent repository activity (2026-11-04 vs 2025-12-19).
- Docs published a release more recently (v6.0.4 on 2026-10-26; Aleph's latest is 4.1.7 on 2025-10-27).
- Both are licensed under MIT.
- Deployment options listed upstream: Aleph: Docker, K8S; Docs: K8S.
- Only Aleph has a Docker Hub image that we detected (alephdata/aleph).
- Our rough hardware estimate is lighter for Docs (~1 GB server) than Aleph (~2 GB); this is an estimate from the stack and category, not a benchmark.
Summary: Aleph leads on Docker Hub availability; Docs leads on GitHub popularity, commit activity and recent activity. The right choice depends on the features you need — read both project descriptions and docs.
This summary is generated from GitHub, Docker Hub and awesome-selfhosted data as of 2026-11-05. It does not rate features or quality.
Get the Docker images
Aleph
docker pull alephdata/alephImage on Docker Hub. Ports, volumes and environment variables differ per app; follow the official docs.
Frequently asked questions
Is Aleph or Docs more popular?
Docs has more GitHub stars (16,970 vs 2,501 for Aleph, as of 2026-11-05). Stars measure interest, not quality.
Which is more actively maintained, Aleph or Docs?
Docs had more commits over the last 12 months (1,137 vs 4). The last recorded activity was 2025-12-19 for Aleph and 2026-11-04 for Docs. Our health labels: Aleph is “Maintained”, Docs is “Active”.
What licenses do Aleph and Docs use?
Both use MIT.
Can I run Aleph and Docs with Docker?
Aleph has a Docker Hub image (alephdata/aleph). We did not find one for Docs; check its documentation for install options.
Read more
Docs
Collaborative note taking, wiki and documentation platform that scales.
Browse all self-hosted Knowledge Management Tools apps.