head to head · open source
readest vs ebook2audiobook
readest has 24,413 GitHub stars, 1,586 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ebook2audiobook has 20,198 stars, 1,728 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped yesterday. readest leads on adoption by 21% (24,413 vs 20,198 stars). readest is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; ebook2audiobook is written in Python under Apache-2.0. readest has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, ebook2audiobook 9%. readest was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| readest | ebook2audiobook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 20K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick readest if
- You weight community size — 24K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ebook2audiobook if
- You want the ebook2audiobook feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and ebook2audiobook fits your workflow better
About readest
Readest is an open source, cross platform ebook reader built with Next.js 16 and Tauri v2 for readers who want one modern library across macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, and the web.
read the full readest overview →
About ebook2audiobook
ebook2audiobook (E2A) is an open source Python tool that converts e books into audiobooks with chapters and metadata, using advanced text to speech engines. It supports voice cloning and 1158 languages, and runs on CPU or GPU. The project lives in the Python ecosystem, is licensed under Apache 2.0, and carries topics covering audiobook, TTS, voice cloning, multilingual output, Gradio, Docker, and XTTS. It has been on GitHub for three years and holds roughly 20,175 stars and 1,727 forks.
read the full ebook2audiobook overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is readest or ebook2audiobook more popular?
readest has 24,413 GitHub stars and ebook2audiobook has 20,198. readest has the larger community by that measure.
Are readest and ebook2audiobook free?
Both are open source. readest is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and ebook2audiobook under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between readest and ebook2audiobook?
readest is written in TypeScript and ebook2audiobook 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, readest or ebook2audiobook?
Choose readest if you want the larger community (24,413 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ebook2audiobook if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.