head to head · open source
koodo-reader vs calibre
koodo-reader has 28,699 GitHub stars, 2,148 forks, 271 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. calibre has 26,327 stars, 2,743 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. koodo-reader leads on adoption by 9% (28,699 vs 26,327 stars). koodo-reader is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; calibre is written in Python under GPL-3.0. koodo-reader has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, calibre 10%. calibre was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (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
| koodo-reader | calibre | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 26K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick koodo-reader if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick calibre if
- You want the calibre feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and calibre fits your workflow better
About koodo-reader
简体中文 हिंदी Português Indonesian English Türkçe Koodo Reader A cross platform ebook reader Download Preview Roadmap Document Plugins Preview Features Format support: EPUB ( .epub ) PDF ( .pdf ) DRM free Mobipocket ( .mobi ) and Kindle ( .azw3 , .azw ) Plain text ( .txt ) FictionBook ( .fb2 ) Comic book archive ( .cbr , .cbz , .cbt , .cb7 ) Rich text ( .md , .docx ) HyperText ( .html , .xml , .xhtml , .mhtml , .htm ) Platform support: Windows , macOS , Linux , Android , iOS and Web Sync and backup your data with OneDrive , Google Drive , Dropbox , iCloud , MEGA , pCloud , Yandex Disk , Box , FTP , SFTP , WebDAV…
read the full koodo-reader overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koodo-reader or calibre more popular?
koodo-reader has 28,699 GitHub stars and calibre has 26,327. koodo-reader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koodo-reader and calibre free?
Both are open source. koodo-reader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and calibre under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koodo-reader and calibre?
koodo-reader is written in JavaScript and calibre 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, koodo-reader or calibre?
Choose koodo-reader if you want the larger community (28,699 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose calibre if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.