head to head · open source
koreader vs zk-nvim
koreader has 30,818 GitHub stars, 2,019 forks, 1,345 open issues and last shipped yesterday. zk-nvim has 871 stars, 69 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. koreader leads on adoption by 3,438% (30,818 vs 871 stars). koreader is written in Lua under AGPL-3.0; zk-nvim is written in Lua under GPL-3.0. koreader has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, zk-nvim 8%. 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 | zk-nvim | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 871 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Lua | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 69 |
| 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 zk-nvim if
- You want the zk-nvim feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You evaluated both and zk-nvim 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 zk-nvim
zk nvim Neovim extension for the zk plain text note taking assistant. Checkout Shivan's video, Note taking System ALL Programmers Should Consider , to see it in action. Join us on Matrix for general, support and development discussion: \ zk org:pub.solar. Requirements Installation Via packer.nvim Via vim plug Via lazy.nvim To get the best experience, it's recommended to also install either Telescope, fzf, mini.pick, or snacks.picker Setup [!IMPORTANT]\ If you have the zk cli installed, then you do not need to install zk lsp via Mason (or otherwise). Default lazy.nvim setup: Note that this will not add any key…
read the full zk-nvim overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koreader or zk-nvim more popular?
koreader has 30,818 GitHub stars and zk-nvim has 871. koreader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koreader and zk-nvim free?
Both are open source. koreader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and zk-nvim under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koreader and zk-nvim?
koreader is written in Lua and zk-nvim in Lua. 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 zk-nvim?
Choose koreader if you want the larger community (30,818 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose zk-nvim if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.