head to head · open source
koreader vs ShipShipShip
koreader has 29,761 GitHub stars, 1,908 forks, 1,345 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ShipShipShip has 299 stars, 16 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. koreader leads on adoption by 9,854% (29,761 vs 299 stars). koreader is written in Lua under AGPL-3.0; ShipShipShip is written in Svelte under Apache-2.0. koreader has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, ShipShipShip 5%. koreader 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
| koreader | ShipShipShip | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 299 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Lua | Svelte |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-02-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 16 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick koreader if
- You weight community size — 30K 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 ShipShipShip if
- You want the ShipShipShip feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Svelte
- You evaluated both and ShipShipShip fits your workflow better
About koreader
KOReader is a free, AGPL 3.0 licensed document viewer written in Lua that runs on e ink readers from Cervantes, Kindle, Kobo and PocketBook, on reMarkable, and on Android and desktop Linux, aimed at readers who want broader format support, finer typesetting control and better performance than the reading software shipped with their device.
read the full koreader overview →
About ShipShipShip
ShipShipShip is an open source, self hostable changelog and roadmap web application that lets product teams publish release notes, run a public roadmap, and gather community feedback through voting on proposed features.
read the full ShipShipShip overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koreader or ShipShipShip more popular?
koreader has 29,761 GitHub stars and ShipShipShip has 299. koreader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koreader and ShipShipShip free?
Both are open source. koreader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and ShipShipShip under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koreader and ShipShipShip?
koreader is written in Lua and ShipShipShip in Svelte. 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 ShipShipShip?
Choose koreader if you want the larger community (29,761 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ShipShipShip if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.