head to head · open source
calibre-web vs Calibre-Web-Automated
calibre-web has 18,216 GitHub stars, 1,863 forks, 409 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Calibre-Web-Automated has 6,308 stars, 521 forks, 443 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. calibre-web leads on adoption by 189% (18,216 vs 6,308 stars). calibre-web is written in Fluent under GPL-3.0; Calibre-Web-Automated is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. calibre-web has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Calibre-Web-Automated 8%. calibre-web was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (calibre, ebook, 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-web | Calibre-Web-Automated | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 6.3K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Fluent | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-08-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 521 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick calibre-web if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Fluent
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Calibre-Web-Automated if
- You want the Calibre-Web-Automated feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Calibre-Web-Automated fits your workflow better
About calibre-web
Calibre Web is a web application that provides a clean and intuitive interface for browsing, reading, and downloading eBooks from a valid Calibre database. It is a fork of the library project (calibreserver) and is licensed under the GPL v3. The project lives in the Calibre ecosystem, and it is distributed through PyPI as the calibreweb package as well as through Docker images. It has been developed for over eleven years and carries roughly 18,183 stars and 1,856 forks on GitHub.
read the full calibre-web overview →
About Calibre-Web-Automated
Calibre Web Automated is a free, GPL 3.0, self hosted digital library server distributed as the Docker image crocodilestick/calibre web automated , aimed at self hosters who want one automated service instead of running Calibre and Calibre Web side by side.
read the full Calibre-Web-Automated overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is calibre-web or Calibre-Web-Automated more popular?
calibre-web has 18,216 GitHub stars and Calibre-Web-Automated has 6,308. calibre-web has the larger community by that measure.
Are calibre-web and Calibre-Web-Automated free?
Both are open source. calibre-web is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Calibre-Web-Automated under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between calibre-web and Calibre-Web-Automated?
calibre-web is written in Fluent and Calibre-Web-Automated in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, calibre-web or Calibre-Web-Automated?
Choose calibre-web if you want the larger community (18,216 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Calibre-Web-Automated if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.