head to head · open source
koreader vs zk-nvim
koreader has 29,761 GitHub stars, 1,908 forks, 1,345 open issues and last shipped yesterday. zk-nvim has 859 stars, 68 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. koreader leads on adoption by 3,365% (29,761 vs 859 stars). koreader is written in Lua under AGPL-3.0; zk-nvim is written in Lua under GPL-3.0. koreader has attracted 6% 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 | ★ 30K | ★ 859 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Lua | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 68 |
| 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 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 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 zk-nvim
zk nvim is a Neovim plugin that wires the Neovim editor to the zk plain text note taking assistant, and it is for Neovim users who keep a Zettelkasten style notebook of plain text or Markdown files and want to search, create and navigate those notes without leaving the editor.
read the full zk-nvim overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koreader or zk-nvim more popular?
koreader has 29,761 GitHub stars and zk-nvim has 859. 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 (29,761 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.