head to head · open source
koreader vs kokoro-tts
koreader has 30,818 GitHub stars, 2,019 forks, 1,345 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kokoro-tts has 1,978 stars, 180 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. koreader leads on adoption by 1,458% (30,818 vs 1,978 stars). koreader is written in Lua under AGPL-3.0; kokoro-tts is written in Python under MIT. koreader has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, kokoro-tts 9%. koreader 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| koreader | kokoro-tts | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Lua | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 180 |
| 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 kokoro-tts if
- You want the kokoro-tts feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and kokoro-tts 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 kokoro-tts
Kokoro TTS A CLI text to speech tool using the Kokoro model, supporting multiple languages, voices (with blending), and various input formats including EPUB books and PDF documents. Features Multiple language and voice support Voice blending with customizable weights EPUB, PDF and TXT file input support Standard input (stdin) and piping from other programs Streaming audio playback Split output into chapters Adjustable speech speed WAV and MP3 output formats Chapter merging capability Detailed debug output option GPU Support Demo Kokoro TTS is an open source CLI tool that delivers high quality text to speech…
read the full kokoro-tts overview →
More in Content & Publishing
Related comparisons
More Publishing projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Publishing field.
Frequently asked questions
Is koreader or kokoro-tts more popular?
koreader has 30,818 GitHub stars and kokoro-tts has 1,978. koreader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koreader and kokoro-tts free?
Both are open source. koreader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and kokoro-tts under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koreader and kokoro-tts?
koreader is written in Lua and kokoro-tts in Python. 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 kokoro-tts?
Choose koreader if you want the larger community (30,818 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose kokoro-tts if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.