head to head · open source
koodo-reader vs Calibre-Web-Automated
koodo-reader has 28,217 GitHub stars, 2,116 forks, 271 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Calibre-Web-Automated has 6,293 stars, 519 forks, 443 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. koodo-reader leads on adoption by 348% (28,217 vs 6,293 stars). koodo-reader is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; Calibre-Web-Automated is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. koodo-reader has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Calibre-Web-Automated 8%. koodo-reader 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-Web-Automated | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 6.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 519 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick koodo-reader if
- You weight community size — 28K 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-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 koodo-reader
Koodo Reader is a cross platform ebook manager and reader written in JavaScript and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and the web, and it is distributed both as downloadable desktop and mobile applications and as a hosted web version at web.koodoreader.com. The project lives in the JavaScript ecosystem, is developed with yarn and git, and has been maintained for roughly seven years, with a repository that carries about 28,000 stars and 2,100 forks.
read the full koodo-reader 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 koodo-reader or Calibre-Web-Automated more popular?
koodo-reader has 28,217 GitHub stars and Calibre-Web-Automated has 6,293. koodo-reader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koodo-reader and Calibre-Web-Automated free?
Both are open source. koodo-reader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Calibre-Web-Automated under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koodo-reader and Calibre-Web-Automated?
koodo-reader is written in JavaScript 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, koodo-reader or Calibre-Web-Automated?
Choose koodo-reader if you want the larger community (28,217 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Calibre-Web-Automated if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.