Mayan EDMS review
A free, self-hosted document system with workflows, signatures, OCR, and granular permissions.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Mayan EDMS is a free, open-source electronic document management system for organizations that need to store, classify, index, search, process, and control access to documents. It is suited to teams that want ownership of their deployment and a document workflow that extends beyond basic file storage. The platform covers document versioning, rollback, OCR, metadata, previews, digital signatures, permission management, event tracking, and automation through an API.
Its strongest area is document control. Tesseract-supported OCR enables text extraction, while full-text indexing supports search across managed content. Version history allows previous versions to be restored, and role-based, fine-grained permissions provide control over document access. Workflows and state transitions support structured processing, while digital signatures and signature verification address approval-oriented processes. Activity and login-attempt auditing add an operational record of document and account events.
Mayan EDMS also fits teams building around existing identity, mail, and storage systems. Integrations include LDAP, OpenID Connect, IMAP, POP3, and S3-compatible object storage, with a REST API for integrations and automation. The core platform is free and open source, while paid support and professional services are separate. Organizations should choose Mayan EDMS when self-hosting, configurable permissions, document workflows, and signatures are priorities. Teams wanting access beyond web, Linux, API, and self-hosted environments, or that prefer a managed service rather than operating their own infrastructure, should consider another document management approach.
Mayan EDMS pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Versioning, OCR, full-text search, previews, and image transformations
- Fine-grained permissions, workflows, signatures, and audit trails
- REST API plus LDAP, OpenID Connect, IMAP, POP3, and S3 support
- Where it doesn't
- Access is limited to web, Linux, API, and self-hosted environments
- Self-hosted deployment places infrastructure responsibility on the organization
- Paid support and professional services are separate from the free core
Mayan EDMS fact sheet, pricing and score →
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