head to head · open source
koreader vs vmprint
koreader has 30,818 GitHub stars, 2,019 forks, 1,345 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vmprint has 679 stars, 30 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. koreader leads on adoption by 4,439% (30,818 vs 679 stars). koreader is written in Lua under AGPL-3.0; vmprint is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. koreader has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, vmprint 4%. 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 | vmprint | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 679 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Lua | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 30 |
| 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 vmprint if
- You want the vmprint feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and vmprint 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 vmprint
VMPrint I built the layout engine so you don't have to. VMPrint is a layout engine. Not a PDF library. Not a renderer. A layout engine: the component that decides where every glyph goes, negotiates page breaks, resolves mutual spatial dependencies between dynamic regions, and produces a flat array of exact X/Y coordinates for every box and text run in the document. What you do with that output is your call: render to PDF, replay on a Canvas, drive a word processor's display layer, feed it to a WebGL pipeline. The engine's job ends when the math is done. The architecture is backed by a pending patent. The core…
read the full vmprint overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koreader or vmprint more popular?
koreader has 30,818 GitHub stars and vmprint has 679. koreader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koreader and vmprint free?
Both are open source. koreader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and vmprint under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koreader and vmprint?
koreader is written in Lua and vmprint in JavaScript. 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 vmprint?
Choose koreader if you want the larger community (30,818 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose vmprint if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.