head to head · open source
koreader vs calibre-web
koreader has 30,818 GitHub stars, 2,019 forks, 1,345 open issues and last shipped yesterday. calibre-web has 18,524 stars, 1,899 forks, 409 open issues and last shipped 24 days ago. koreader leads on adoption by 66% (30,818 vs 18,524 stars). koreader is written in Lua under AGPL-3.0; calibre-web is written in Fluent under GPL-3.0. koreader has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, calibre-web 10%. koreader 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
| koreader | calibre-web | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 19K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Lua | Fluent |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 1.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick koreader if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick calibre-web if
- You want the calibre-web feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Fluent
- You evaluated both and calibre-web fits your workflow better
About koreader
KOReader is a document viewer primarily aimed at e ink readers. [![AGPL Licence][badge license]](COPYING) [![Latest release][badge release]][link gh releases] [![Gitter][badge gitter]][link gitter] [![Mobileread][badge mobileread]][link forum] [![Build Status][badge circleci]][link circleci] [![Coverage Status][badge coverage]][link coverage] [![Weblate Status][badge weblate]][link weblate] Download • User guide • Wiki • Developer docs Main features portable : runs on embedded devices (Cervantes, Kindle, Kobo, PocketBook, reMarkable), Android and Linux computers. Developers can run a KOReader emulator in Linux…
read the full koreader overview →
About calibre-web
Calibre Web Calibre Web is a web app that offers a clean and intuitive interface for browsing, reading, and downloading eBooks using a valid Calibre database. Table of Contents (click to expand) 1. About 2. Features 3. Installation Installation via pip (recommended) Quick start Requirements 4. Docker Images 5. Troubleshooting 6. Contributor Recognition 7. Contact 8. Contributing to Calibre Web This software is a fork of library and licensed under the GPL v3 License. Features Modern and responsive Bootstrap 3 HTML5 interface Full graphical setup Comprehensive user management with fine grained per user permissions…
read the full calibre-web overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koreader or calibre-web more popular?
koreader has 30,818 GitHub stars and calibre-web has 18,524. koreader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koreader and calibre-web free?
Both are open source. koreader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and calibre-web under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koreader and calibre-web?
koreader is written in Lua and calibre-web in Fluent. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, koreader or calibre-web?
Choose koreader if you want the larger community (30,818 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose calibre-web if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.