head to head · open source
readest vs PyMuPDF
readest has 24,470 GitHub stars, 1,594 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped today. PyMuPDF has 10,744 stars, 800 forks, 58 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. readest leads on adoption by 128% (24,470 vs 10,744 stars). readest is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; PyMuPDF is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. readest has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, PyMuPDF 7%. readest was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (epub), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| readest | PyMuPDF | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 11K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 800 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick readest if
- You weight community size — 24K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick PyMuPDF if
- You want the PyMuPDF 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 PyMuPDF fits your workflow better
About readest
Readest is an open source, cross platform ebook reader built with Next.js 16 and Tauri v2 for readers who want one modern library across macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, and the web.
read the full readest overview →
About PyMuPDF
PyMuPDF is a high performance Python library, built on the MuPDF C engine, for extracting, analysing, converting, rendering and manipulating PDF and other documents, aimed at Python developers building data extraction, document processing and AI retrieval pipelines.
read the full PyMuPDF overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is readest or PyMuPDF more popular?
readest has 24,470 GitHub stars and PyMuPDF has 10,744. readest has the larger community by that measure.
Are readest and PyMuPDF free?
Both are open source. readest is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and PyMuPDF under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between readest and PyMuPDF?
readest is written in TypeScript and PyMuPDF 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, readest or PyMuPDF?
Choose readest if you want the larger community (24,470 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose PyMuPDF if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.