head to head · open source
koodo-reader vs thorium-reader
koodo-reader has 28,217 GitHub stars, 2,116 forks, 271 open issues and last shipped yesterday. thorium-reader has 2,872 stars, 237 forks, 206 open issues and last shipped yesterday. koodo-reader leads on adoption by 882% (28,217 vs 2,872 stars). koodo-reader is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; thorium-reader is written in TypeScript under BSD-3-Clause. koodo-reader has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, thorium-reader 8%. thorium-reader 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
| koodo-reader | thorium-reader | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 237 |
| 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 thorium-reader if
- You want the thorium-reader feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and thorium-reader 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 thorium-reader
Thorium Reader is a cross platform desktop reading application for Windows 10/10S, macOS, and Linux, based on the open source Readium Desktop toolkit. It lives in the content and publishing ecosystem, is categorized as Content & Publishing / Publishing, and is released under the BSD 3 Clause license. The repository reports 2,871 stars, 237 forks, and a last push on 2026 09 14.
read the full thorium-reader overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koodo-reader or thorium-reader more popular?
koodo-reader has 28,217 GitHub stars and thorium-reader has 2,872. koodo-reader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koodo-reader and thorium-reader free?
Both are open source. koodo-reader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and thorium-reader under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koodo-reader and thorium-reader?
koodo-reader is written in JavaScript and thorium-reader in TypeScript. 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 thorium-reader?
Choose koodo-reader if you want the larger community (28,217 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose thorium-reader if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.