head to head · open source
koreader vs LibreTranslate
koreader has 29,802 GitHub stars, 1,911 forks, 1,345 open issues and last shipped today. LibreTranslate has 16,674 stars, 1,707 forks, 126 open issues and last shipped 17 days ago. koreader leads on adoption by 79% (29,802 vs 16,674 stars). koreader is written in Lua under AGPL-3.0; LibreTranslate is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. koreader has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, LibreTranslate 10%. 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 | LibreTranslate | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 17K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Lua | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| 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 LibreTranslate if
- You want the LibreTranslate feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and LibreTranslate 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 LibreTranslate
LibreTranslate is a free and open source machine translation API written in Python and released under the AGPL 3.0 license. It lives in the open source translation ecosystem and is positioned as a self hosted alternative to hosted translation services. The project does not rely on proprietary software such as Google or Azure for translation. Instead, it uses the open source Argos Translate library as its translation engine.
read the full LibreTranslate overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is koreader or LibreTranslate more popular?
koreader has 29,802 GitHub stars and LibreTranslate has 16,674. koreader has the larger community by that measure.
Are koreader and LibreTranslate free?
Both are open source. koreader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and LibreTranslate under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between koreader and LibreTranslate?
koreader is written in Lua and LibreTranslate in Python. 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 LibreTranslate?
Choose koreader if you want the larger community (29,802 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose LibreTranslate if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.