head to head · open source
lerna vs Booktype
lerna has 36,053 GitHub stars, 2,265 forks, 287 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Booktype has 961 stars, 195 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. lerna leads on adoption by 3,652% (36,053 vs 961 stars). lerna is written in TypeScript under MIT; Booktype is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. lerna has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Booktype 20%. lerna 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
| lerna | Booktype | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 961 |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-02-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 195 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick lerna if
- You weight community size — 36K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Booktype if
- You want the Booktype feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Booktype fits your workflow better
About lerna
Lerna is a fast, modern build system for managing and publishing multiple JavaScript/TypeScript packages from the same repository, aimed at teams that maintain monorepos and publish packages to npm.
read the full lerna overview →
About Booktype
Booktype is a free, open source, AGPL 3.0 licensed publishing platform that lets authors, companies and organisations edit, proofread and produce books formatted for print, Amazon, iBooks and almost any ereader from a single HTML source.
read the full Booktype overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lerna or Booktype more popular?
lerna has 36,053 GitHub stars and Booktype has 961. lerna has the larger community by that measure.
Are lerna and Booktype free?
Both are open source. lerna is licensed under MIT and Booktype under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lerna and Booktype?
lerna is written in TypeScript and Booktype 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, lerna or Booktype?
Choose lerna if you want the larger community (36,053 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Booktype if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.