head to head · open source
koreader vs thorium-reader
koreader has 30,818 GitHub stars, 2,019 forks, 1,345 open issues and last shipped yesterday. thorium-reader has 2,928 stars, 245 forks, 206 open issues and last shipped yesterday. koreader leads on adoption by 953% (30,818 vs 2,928 stars). koreader is written in Lua under AGPL-3.0; thorium-reader is written in TypeScript under BSD-3-Clause. koreader has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, thorium-reader 8%. 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.
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Side by side
| koreader | thorium-reader | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Lua | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 245 |
| 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 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 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 thorium-reader
Thorium Reader Thorium Reader is an easy to use EPUB reading application for Windows 10/10S, MacOS and Linux. After importing e books from a directory or OPDS feed, you'll be able to read on any screen size, customize layout settings, navigate via the table of contents or page list, set bookmarks ... A great care is taken to ensure the accessibility of the application for visual impaired people using NVDA, JAWS or Narrator. Free application. No ads. No private data flowing anywhere. This project is in constant evolution, corrections and new features will be added soon and your support is welcome for that. The…
read the full thorium-reader overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koreader or thorium-reader more popular?
koreader has 30,818 GitHub stars and thorium-reader has 2,928. koreader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koreader and thorium-reader free?
Both are open source. koreader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and thorium-reader under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koreader and thorium-reader?
koreader is written in Lua 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, koreader or thorium-reader?
Choose koreader if you want the larger community (30,818 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.