head to head · open source
koreader vs TranslateBooksWithLLMs
koreader has 29,761 GitHub stars, 1,908 forks, 1,345 open issues and last shipped yesterday. TranslateBooksWithLLMs has 2,416 stars, 319 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped yesterday. koreader leads on adoption by 1,132% (29,761 vs 2,416 stars). koreader is written in Lua under AGPL-3.0; TranslateBooksWithLLMs is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. koreader has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, TranslateBooksWithLLMs 13%. 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 | TranslateBooksWithLLMs | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Lua | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 319 |
| 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 TranslateBooksWithLLMs if
- You want the TranslateBooksWithLLMs feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and TranslateBooksWithLLMs 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 TranslateBooksWithLLMs
TranslateBooksWithLLMs is a Python desktop application under AGPL 3.0 for translating full length books, documents, and subtitle files with large language models. It lives in the Content and Publishing ecosystem, specifically around ebook translation, document localization, and publishing related workflows. The project ships as a local app that opens a browser interface at http://localhost:5000 after the bundled executable is run.
read the full TranslateBooksWithLLMs overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koreader or TranslateBooksWithLLMs more popular?
koreader has 29,761 GitHub stars and TranslateBooksWithLLMs has 2,416. koreader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koreader and TranslateBooksWithLLMs free?
Both are open source. koreader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and TranslateBooksWithLLMs under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koreader and TranslateBooksWithLLMs?
koreader is written in Lua and TranslateBooksWithLLMs 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 TranslateBooksWithLLMs?
Choose koreader if you want the larger community (29,761 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose TranslateBooksWithLLMs if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.