head to head · open source
calibre vs Lector
calibre has 26,327 GitHub stars, 2,743 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Lector has 1,556 stars, 207 forks, 52 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. calibre leads on adoption by 1,592% (26,327 vs 1,556 stars). calibre is written in Python under GPL-3.0; Lector is written in Python under GPL-3.0. calibre has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Lector 13%. calibre was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (ebook, ebook-reader, 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 | Lector | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-07-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 207 |
| 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 Lector if
- You want the Lector feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Lector 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 Lector
Qt based ebook reader Currently supports: pdf epub djvu fb2 mobi azw / azw3 / azw4 cbr / cbz md Contribute Paypal Bitcoin: 17jaxj26vFJNqQ2hEVerbBV5fpTusfqFro Requirements Needed Optional Support When reporting issues: Make sure you're at the latest commit. Run with $EXECUTABLEPATH debug . Include the log /.local/share/Lector/Lector.log AND terminal output. If you're having trouble with a book while the rest of the application / other books work, please link to a copy of the book itself. If nothing is working, please make sure the requirements mentioned above are all installed, and are at least at the version…
read the full Lector overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is calibre or Lector more popular?
calibre has 26,327 GitHub stars and Lector has 1,556. calibre has the larger community by that measure.
Are calibre and Lector free?
Both are open source. calibre is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Lector under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between calibre and Lector?
calibre is written in Python and Lector in Python. 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 Lector?
Choose calibre if you want the larger community (26,327 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Lector if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.