NG or MF is the first PaperCut question every office asks, and the answer is simpler than the brochures suggest: the tracking, quotas and rules are the same product. What MF adds lives at the device - an app inside the multifunction printer that controls release, copying and scanning. Choose by your hardware and your problem, not by the feature list.
PaperCut itself says the two editions share the same code base and core features. PaperCut NG is the self-installed edition for managing printing through a server. PaperCut MF extends it with embedded software on multifunction devices (MFDs), installed through certified resellers. Everything in the other guides in this series - quotas, scripts, shared accounts, reports - works on both. This page is only about the differences that should drive your decision.
Start with what you do NOT gain by paying more. User and group sync, per-page costing, quotas with scheduled allocation, forced duplex and greyscale scripts, shared accounts for departments and clients, hold and release queues, the job log and the scheduled reports - all of this is the shared core. An office of standard network printers, managed through a Windows print server, gets its entire print-cost problem solved by that core. If your goal is "know who prints what and stop the waste", the editions are equal and the decision is already made.
MF's additions all happen physically at a multifunction device. The embedded app puts a PaperCut login on the MFD's own screen: users authenticate there, release their held jobs from the panel, and - the part NG cannot do at all - copying, scanning and faxing at that device are tracked and controlled with the same accounts and balances. Add card readers and release becomes a card swipe. MF also supports cash-loading hardware for pay-per-use environments. If your cost problem includes the photocopier - and in schools and legal offices it usually does - that is the genuine MF case.
NG you buy, download and install yourself on your print server; it is licensed as a product you run, with a free trial to evaluate first. MF is sold and installed through accredited PaperCut resellers, because the embedded side has to be set up per device model and often involves card hardware. MF has also moved toward subscription licensing in recent versions, while NG remains a perpetual-style purchase - but licensing models change, so confirm the current terms with PaperCut or the reseller before budgeting. Treat any exact price quoted by a third-party page (including this one, which deliberately quotes none) as out of date until checked.
Choose NG when your fleet is ordinary printers (or MFDs used only as printers), your problem is print cost and visibility, and you have anyone in-house comfortable running a Windows server. Schools whose copiers are already under a separate managed contract, offices that just need quotas and reports, and IT admins who want to start this month all land here. NG also makes a perfectly good first step: it solves the printing side completely, and its data - who prints, where, how much - is exactly the evidence you would use later to justify MF for the copiers.
Choose MF when walk-up copying is a real cost or confidentiality issue, when users must release jobs at the device with a card for compliance reasons, or when management wants one system for print, copy and scan across a mixed MFD fleet with a consistent screen on every device. Budget honestly for it: per-device embedded licensing, possible card readers, and reseller installation on top of the software. If none of those three needs exists in your building, MF's extra money buys capability that will sit unused - a common and avoidable overspend.
The video sets up the shared core that both editions use - watch it, and the edition decision reduces to your copier question.
▶️ Watch Full VideoYes - this is a common path, because the editions share the same foundation: users, groups, accounts, quotas and job history carry the same meaning. The MF step adds the embedded device layer through a reseller. Confirm the upgrade path and licensing treatment of your existing NG purchase with PaperCut or the reseller at the time, since commercial terms are theirs to set.
Not at the device itself - card-based tap-and-release on the MFD panel is the MF embedded world. With NG, users release jobs at a release station PC or through the web release interface using their normal credentials or a PIN. Many offices find that entirely sufficient; the card question only becomes important where speed at a busy shared copier or strict confidentiality is the driver.
Embedded MF apps need supported MFD models with the right internals - PaperCut publishes supported device lists, and older or very basic models may not qualify. That is a pre-purchase check the reseller must do against your exact models. The same old printers work fine as tracked print queues under NG, which is another reason the NG-first path is low risk.