head to head · open source
calibre vs Openlib
calibre has 26,327 GitHub stars, 2,743 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Openlib has 2,510 stars, 136 forks, 87 open issues and last shipped 10 months ago. calibre leads on adoption by 949% (26,327 vs 2,510 stars). calibre is written in Python under GPL-3.0; Openlib is written in Dart under GPL-3.0. calibre has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Openlib 5%. calibre was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ebook-reader, 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 | Openlib | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-01-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 136 |
| 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 Openlib if
- You want the Openlib feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and Openlib 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 Openlib
Openlib An Open source app to download and read books from shadow library (Anna’s Archive) Note 📝 WARNING: This App Is In Beta Stage, So You May Encounter Bugs. If You Do, Open An Issue In Github Repository. Publishing Openlib, Or Any Fork Of It In The Google Play Store Violates Their Terms And Conditions Screenshots 🖼️ Description 📖 Openlib Is An Open Source App To Download And Read Books From Shadow Library (Anna’s Archive). The App Has Built In Reader to Read Books As Anna’s Archive Doesn't Have An API. The App Works By Sending Request To Anna’s Archive And Parses The Response To objects. The App Extracts…
read the full Openlib overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is calibre or Openlib more popular?
calibre has 26,327 GitHub stars and Openlib has 2,510. calibre has the larger community by that measure.
Are calibre and Openlib free?
Both are open source. calibre is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Openlib under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between calibre and Openlib?
calibre is written in Python and Openlib in Dart. 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 Openlib?
Choose calibre if you want the larger community (26,327 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Openlib if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.