head to head · open source
koodo-reader vs kepubify
koodo-reader has 28,217 GitHub stars, 2,116 forks, 271 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kepubify has 889 stars, 58 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped 10 months ago. koodo-reader leads on adoption by 3,074% (28,217 vs 889 stars). koodo-reader is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; kepubify is written in Go under MIT. koodo-reader has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, kepubify 7%. 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 | kepubify | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 889 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2025-12-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 58 |
| 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 kepubify if
- You want the kepubify feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and kepubify 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 kepubify
Kepubify is a free, MIT licensed command line tool written in Go that converts standard EPUB files into the Kobo EPUB format, aimed at Kobo eReader owners, self hosters, and developers who need fast, scriptable, standalone conversion without installing a full e book management suite.
read the full kepubify overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koodo-reader or kepubify more popular?
koodo-reader has 28,217 GitHub stars and kepubify has 889. koodo-reader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koodo-reader and kepubify free?
Both are open source. koodo-reader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and kepubify under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koodo-reader and kepubify?
koodo-reader is written in JavaScript and kepubify in Go. 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 kepubify?
Choose koodo-reader if you want the larger community (28,217 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose kepubify if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.