head to head · open source
koreader vs vmprint
koreader has 29,761 GitHub stars, 1,908 forks, 1,345 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vmprint has 676 stars, 30 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. koreader leads on adoption by 4,303% (29,761 vs 676 stars). koreader is written in Lua under AGPL-3.0; vmprint is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. koreader has attracted 6% 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 | ★ 30K | ★ 676 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Lua | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 30 |
| 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 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 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 vmprint
VMPrint is an Apache 2.0 layout engine written in JavaScript that decides where every glyph goes and returns a flat array of exact X/Y coordinates, built for teams creating Canvas or WebGL tools, high volume report generators, print on demand pipelines, document editors, and edge runtime deployments.
read the full vmprint overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koreader or vmprint more popular?
koreader has 29,761 GitHub stars and vmprint has 676. 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 (29,761 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.