head to head · open source
calibre vs Booktype
calibre has 26,327 GitHub stars, 2,743 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Booktype has 961 stars, 196 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. calibre leads on adoption by 2,640% (26,327 vs 961 stars). calibre is written in Python under GPL-3.0; Booktype is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. calibre has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Booktype 20%. calibre was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (ebooks, epub, python), 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
| calibre | Booktype | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 961 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 196 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick calibre if
- You weight community size — 26K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Booktype if
- You want the Booktype feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Booktype fits your workflow better
About calibre
calibre calibre is an e book manager. It can view, convert, edit and catalog e books in all of the major e book formats. It can also talk to e book reader devices. It can go out to the internet and fetch metadata for your books. It can download newspapers and convert them into e books for convenient reading. It is cross platform, running on Linux, Windows and macOS. For more information, see the calibre About page. Screenshots Screenshots page Usage See the User Manual. Development Setting up a development environment for calibre. A tarball of the source code for the current calibre release. Bugs Bug reports and…
read the full calibre overview →
About Booktype
Booktype Booktype makes it easier and quicker for authors, companies and organisations to edit and publish books. It imports DOCX or EPUB files, converts them into single source HTML for online editing and proofreading, and uses CSS Paged Media to produce good looking output for print, the open web, and almost any ebook reader, in seconds. Booktype facilitates collaborative, agile production across time zones and borders. Booktype is built on the Django web framework and many great Python libraries. The Booktype user interface is being translated into many languages by our community of contributors. Your help…
read the full Booktype overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is calibre or Booktype more popular?
calibre has 26,327 GitHub stars and Booktype has 961. calibre has the larger community by that measure.
Are calibre and Booktype free?
Both are open source. calibre is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Booktype under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between calibre and Booktype?
calibre is written in Python and Booktype in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, calibre or Booktype?
Choose calibre if you want the larger community (26,327 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Booktype if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.