Papermark open source: what the license allows, what self-hosting needs and when a team needs a paid license

Papermark open source: what the license file says

Yes, in part: Papermark's code on GitHub is open source under AGPLv3 outside its enterprise folders, but its help center says a team or company needs a self-hosting license and the free personal route has no data rooms.

The Papermark button on this page opens its pricing page: the hosted Free plan shows first, and Data Rooms Custom sits on the Data Rooms tab.

AGPLv3 is a copyleft license; its text requires the operator of a network server to provide the source code of the modified version running there. The LICENSE file names Papermark, Inc. and sends the enterprise folders to a separate commercial license, which allows copying and modifying for development and testing and otherwise requires a subscription for production use.

What the help center allows for free

The help center says Papermark can be self-hosted for personal, non-commercial use, without data rooms or the advanced security features. Commercial use, including team and company deployments, requires a self-hosting license, and the article points to a call with Papermark's team to discuss it.

A Papermark blog post says the self-hosted option stays free with no time limit. Self-hosting terms differ between its pages: the data room page puts the self-hosted version on its Unlimited tier, the pricing cards list a self-hosted deployment on Data Rooms Custom, and the license has different names, so ask Papermark which applies.

What self-hosting needs: servers, database, storage and email

• Node.js version 18.17.0 or later
• A PostgreSQL database
• Blob storage, currently AWS S3 or Vercel Blob
• Resend, for sending email
• Tinybird, for analytics

The database, storage and email service are hosting costs and upkeep that sit outside any license, and the help center says self-hosting needs technical knowledge and ongoing maintenance. The README's steps end with a development server on localhost, a developer set-up rather than a production guide, and its feature list is older than Papermark's own pages.

Security certifications cover the cloud, not your server

Papermark says it holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and its open-source post says those certifications cover its managed cloud, not your own deployment. The AICPA describes a SOC 2 report as an examination of one service organization's controls, so a self-hosted copy needs its own security review.

Paid routes: a license, your own storage or Data Rooms Custom

Bring Your Own Storage keeps Papermark's hosted app and puts the files in your own AWS S3 bucket; the help article says to contact Papermark's team and shows custom pricing. Data Rooms Custom lists a self-hosted deployment and your own AWS-compatible bucket, with Contact sales instead of a price. Papermark says it helps with self-hosting on your own servers.

Before setting up servers, a team can try Papermark's hosted data rooms for 7 days; is Papermark free covers the trial and the Free plan. A team that wants no paid license and needs no page-by-page view data can use a Google Drive folder, and free data room software compares the routes. What is Papermark explains the hosted product.