Hosted paperless-ngx without the homelab
There is no official hosted paperless-ngx. If you want the engine without the homelab, your options have been a managed VPS you still administer, or giving up and going back to folders. The third option is paless. You keep the full intelligence of the paperless-ngx engine while it runs for you on European infrastructure, protected by European law.
To be clear about what that means, paless is not a bare paperless-ngx instance with a login. It is a document vault built around the engine, with its own apps and with Pal, the EU sovereign AI that answers questions about your documents with sources cited, composes emails, and fills in forms.
What you keep, what you stop doing, what you gain
You keep
- The paperless-ngx engine and its intelligence
- Your tags, correspondents, and document dates
- An exit path back to self-hosting at any time
You stop doing
- Docker, updates, and version migrations
- Backups and monitoring
- Worrying about your NAS on holiday
You gain
- Pal, the EU sovereign AI assistant
- Storage with multiple redundancy across separate European data centers
- AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit
Moving in takes one .zip upload
You upload your standard .zip export from paperless-ngx and paless does the rest. Tags, correspondents, and document dates arrive intact. Your migration doesn't count against your monthly quota during your first 30 days. This covers up to 5,000 documents, and our support team will find a solution for larger archives.
Weighing a switch rather than a hosted setup? Our paperless-ngx alternative comparison puts both side by side.
When you should self-host anyway
If you want the actual paperless-ngx interface, root access, and every knob to turn, a self-hosted or managed VPS instance is the right tool, and the project itself is excellent. For everyone who just wants the outcome, an organized archive and an assistant that does the paperwork, there is paless.
Common questions
Is paless a bare paperless-ngx instance in the cloud?
No. It is its own product, a protected document vault that runs the paperless-ngx engine for you and adds Pal, an EU sovereign AI assistant. You keep the engine’s intelligence and your data portability, and you use the paless apps instead of the paperless-ngx interface.
Can I import my existing paperless-ngx archive?
Yes. You upload your standard .zip export and every tag, correspondent, and document date is imported intact. During your first 30 days the migration does not count against your monthly quota, which covers up to 5,000 documents.
Do I keep an exit path?
Yes. You can export your data back to a self-hosted instance at any time. Your sovereignty, our management.
Who handles updates, backups, and security?
The paless team does. Your documents are stored with multiple redundancy across separate European data centers, encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit, on infrastructure that only European law can reach.
What does it cost compared to a homelab?
Plans start at 9 € per month with a free trial week. A homelab is free in money terms but paid for in hardware, electricity, and the hours you spend on Docker, updates, and backups.
Retire the homelab, keep the archive
The campaign launches on Kickstarter, with time limited Founder’s Pricing for early backers.
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