head to head · open source
koreader vs TranslateBooksWithLLMs
koreader has 30,818 GitHub stars, 2,019 forks, 1,345 open issues and last shipped yesterday. TranslateBooksWithLLMs has 2,567 stars, 340 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped yesterday. koreader leads on adoption by 1,101% (30,818 vs 2,567 stars). koreader is written in Lua under AGPL-3.0; TranslateBooksWithLLMs is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. koreader has attracted 7% 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 | ★ 31K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Lua | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 340 |
| 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 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 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 TranslateBooksWithLLMs
TBL Translate Books with LLMs A desktop app that translates books , subtitles , and documents with AI local or cloud. Drop a file, pick a language, get the result. Formats: EPUB, SRT, DOCX, TXT No size limit. Process documents of any length from a single page to thousand page novels. The intelligent chunking system handles unlimited content while preserving context between segments. Perfect preservation. Your documents come out exactly as they went in: EPUB formatting, styles, and structure remain intact. SRT timecodes stay perfectly synchronized. Every tag, every timestamp, every formatting detail is preserved…
read the full TranslateBooksWithLLMs overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koreader or TranslateBooksWithLLMs more popular?
koreader has 30,818 GitHub stars and TranslateBooksWithLLMs has 2,567. 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 (30,818 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.