head to head · open source
calibre vs rentry
calibre has 25,923 GitHub stars, 2,690 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rentry has 594 stars, 34 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped yesterday. calibre leads on adoption by 4,264% (25,923 vs 594 stars). calibre is written in Python under GPL-3.0; rentry is written in Python under MIT. calibre has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, rentry 6%. calibre was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | rentry | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 594 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 34 |
| 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 rentry if
- You want the rentry feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and rentry fits your workflow better
About calibre
calibre is the official source code repository for the calibre e book manager, an open source application written in Python and released under GPL 3.0. It lives in the content and publishing ecosystem as a desktop tool for books, and it is cross platform, running on Linux, Windows and macOS. The project has been hosted on GitHub for roughly thirteen years, carries about 25,900 stars and 2,683 forks, and its home on the web is calibre ebook.com, where an About page and a screenshots page document it further.
read the full calibre overview →
About rentry
rentry is the official Python client set for Rentry.co, a markdown powered paste and publishing service that offers preview, custom URLs and editing. The repository ships two things: rentry.py , a complete command line tool contained in a single file with no dependencies, and rentry client , an installable library that wraps the same API for programmatic use. Both default to the hosted instance at https://rentry.co, and the shared configuration lets the base protocol and base URL be repointed elsewhere, such as a local development server.
read the full rentry overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is calibre or rentry more popular?
calibre has 25,923 GitHub stars and rentry has 594. calibre has the larger community by that measure.
Are calibre and rentry free?
Both are open source. calibre is licensed under GPL-3.0 and rentry under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between calibre and rentry?
calibre is written in Python and rentry 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 rentry?
Choose calibre if you want the larger community (25,923 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose rentry if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.