head to head · open source
calibre vs readest
calibre has 26,327 GitHub stars, 2,743 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. readest has 25,874 stars, 1,805 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped yesterday. calibre leads on adoption by 2% (26,327 vs 25,874 stars). calibre is written in Python under GPL-3.0; readest is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. calibre has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, readest 7%. readest 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, 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 | readest | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 26K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| 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 readest if
- You want the readest feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and readest 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 readest
Readest [Readest][link website] is an open source ebook reader designed for immersive and deep reading experiences. Built as a modern rewrite of Foliate, it leverages Next.js 16 and Tauri v2 to deliver a smooth, cross platform experience across macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, and the Web. [![Website][badge website]][link website] [![Web App][badge web app]][link web readest] [![OS][badge platforms]][link website] [![Discord][badge discord]][link discord] [![Reddit][badge reddit]][link reddit] [![AGPL Licence][badge license]](LICENSE) [![Language Coverage][badge language coverage]][link locales]…
read the full readest overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is calibre or readest more popular?
calibre has 26,327 GitHub stars and readest has 25,874. calibre has the larger community by that measure.
Are calibre and readest free?
Both are open source. calibre is licensed under GPL-3.0 and readest under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between calibre and readest?
calibre is written in Python and readest in TypeScript. 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 readest?
Choose calibre if you want the larger community (26,327 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose readest if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.