head to head · open source
calibre vs Calibre-Web-Automated
calibre has 26,327 GitHub stars, 2,743 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Calibre-Web-Automated has 6,537 stars, 565 forks, 443 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. calibre leads on adoption by 303% (26,327 vs 6,537 stars). calibre is written in Python under GPL-3.0; Calibre-Web-Automated is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. calibre has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Calibre-Web-Automated 9%. calibre was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (calibre, ebook, ebooks, 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
| calibre | Calibre-Web-Automated | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 6.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 565 |
| 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 Calibre-Web-Automated if
- You want the Calibre-Web-Automated feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Calibre-Web-Automated 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 Calibre-Web-Automated
Calibre Web Automated (formerly Calibre Web Automator) Making Calibre Web your dream , all in one self hosted digital library solution. Supporting the Project ❤️ CWA is and always will be free and open source. If it makes your library life easier and you're able to support development, contributions go directly to: Testing hardware (ereader devices & tablets ect.) Development tools and infrastructure Coffee ☕ (lots of coffee) Quick Access Features 🪄 Releases 🆕 Roadmap 🛣️ How to Install: 📖 Quick Install 🚀 Docker Compose 🐋⭐(Recommended) Users Migrating from stock Calibre Web 🔄 Post Install Tasks 🏁 Default…
read the full Calibre-Web-Automated overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is calibre or Calibre-Web-Automated more popular?
calibre has 26,327 GitHub stars and Calibre-Web-Automated has 6,537. calibre has the larger community by that measure.
Are calibre and Calibre-Web-Automated free?
Both are open source. calibre is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Calibre-Web-Automated under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between calibre and Calibre-Web-Automated?
calibre is written in Python and Calibre-Web-Automated 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 Calibre-Web-Automated?
Choose calibre if you want the larger community (26,327 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Calibre-Web-Automated if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.