head to head · open source
calibre vs zk-nvim
calibre has 25,923 GitHub stars, 2,690 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. zk-nvim has 859 stars, 68 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. calibre leads on adoption by 2,918% (25,923 vs 859 stars). calibre is written in Python under GPL-3.0; zk-nvim is written in Lua under GPL-3.0. calibre has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, zk-nvim 8%. 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 | zk-nvim | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 859 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 68 |
| 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 zk-nvim if
- You want the zk-nvim feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You evaluated both and zk-nvim 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 zk-nvim
zk nvim is a Neovim plugin that wires the Neovim editor to the zk plain text note taking assistant, and it is for Neovim users who keep a Zettelkasten style notebook of plain text or Markdown files and want to search, create and navigate those notes without leaving the editor.
read the full zk-nvim overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is calibre or zk-nvim more popular?
calibre has 25,923 GitHub stars and zk-nvim has 859. calibre has the larger community by that measure.
Are calibre and zk-nvim free?
Both are open source. calibre is licensed under GPL-3.0 and zk-nvim under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between calibre and zk-nvim?
calibre is written in Python and zk-nvim in Lua. 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 zk-nvim?
Choose calibre if you want the larger community (25,923 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose zk-nvim if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.