head to head · open source
koodo-reader vs WritingTools
koodo-reader has 28,217 GitHub stars, 2,116 forks, 271 open issues and last shipped yesterday. WritingTools has 2,451 stars, 159 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. koodo-reader leads on adoption by 1,051% (28,217 vs 2,451 stars). koodo-reader is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; WritingTools is written in Swift under GPL-3.0. koodo-reader has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, WritingTools 6%. koodo-reader was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | WritingTools | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 159 |
| 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 WritingTools if
- You want the WritingTools feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and WritingTools 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 WritingTools
WritingTools is an open source, system wide writing assistant for Windows, Linux, and macOS. It is inspired by Apple Intelligence Writing Tools and uses cloud based or local large language models to proofread, rewrite, summarize, and transform selected text across applications. The project is written in Swift and released under the GPL 3.0 license. The README states it works in nearly any language.
read the full WritingTools overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koodo-reader or WritingTools more popular?
koodo-reader has 28,217 GitHub stars and WritingTools has 2,451. koodo-reader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koodo-reader and WritingTools free?
Both are open source. koodo-reader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and WritingTools under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koodo-reader and WritingTools?
koodo-reader is written in JavaScript and WritingTools in Swift. 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 WritingTools?
Choose koodo-reader if you want the larger community (28,217 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose WritingTools if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.