How much RAM does Paperless-ngx need?
Document management with OCR. Official requirements, sourced, plus our own measurements.
Our measurement
872 MB idle RAM · 2950 MB disk (images 2877 + data 73) · webserver 815 MB, postgres 53 MB, valkey 4 MB
The default env file fails to start: PAPERLESS_SECRET_KEY=change-me is rejected. We set a random key (the only change) and re-ran.
Method: Official compose file, default settings, no data imported, no setup wizard completed. Measured after a 5-minute settle as the sum of docker stats MEM USAGE across all containers, 3 samples 20 s apart (median). Disk = pulled image sizes + named volumes + bind-mounted data dirs.
Host: 8 vCPU Intel Xeon VM, 16 GB RAM, Debian 13 (kernel 6.12), Docker 26.1.5 + Compose 2.26.1
Version: paperless-ngx:latest · Compose: source · Date: 2026-10-21
What the official docs say
- The official FAQ gives no minimum RAM figure.
- The maintainers report testing on a Raspberry Pi 3 B; OCR runs very slowly there.
- Docker images are available for arm64.
- Uses a Redis-compatible broker (bundled Compose defaults to Valkey).
Fits a 4GB server?
likelyMeasured 872 MB idle with default settings (no documents). OCR load not yet measured.
Sources
- Paperless-ngx docs: FAQ checked 2026-10-21