head to head · open source
readest vs anymd
readest has 24,625 GitHub stars, 1,617 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. anymd has 939 stars, 83 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. readest leads on adoption by 2,522% (24,625 vs 939 stars). readest is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; anymd is written in Rust under MIT. readest has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, anymd 9%. anymd was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (epub), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| readest | anymd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 939 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2026-09-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 83 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick readest if
- You weight community size — 25K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick anymd if
- You want the anymd feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and anymd fits your workflow better
About readest
Readest is an open source, cross platform ebook reader built with Next.js 16 and Tauri v2 for readers who want one modern library across macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, and the web.
read the full readest overview →
About anymd
anymd is an open source Rust MCP server and command line tool that converts PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint decks, Excel workbooks, EPUB files, HTML and web pages, images, audio and video into clean Markdown for AI agents, running on the user's own machine with no API key.
read the full anymd overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is readest or anymd more popular?
readest has 24,625 GitHub stars and anymd has 939. readest has the larger community by that measure.
Are readest and anymd free?
Both are open source. readest is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and anymd under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between readest and anymd?
readest is written in TypeScript and anymd in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, readest or anymd?
Choose readest if you want the larger community (24,625 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose anymd if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.