head to head · open source
PyMuPDF vs so-novel
PyMuPDF has 10,744 GitHub stars, 800 forks, 58 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. so-novel has 8,157 stars, 726 forks, 26 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. PyMuPDF leads on adoption by 32% (10,744 vs 8,157 stars). PyMuPDF is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; so-novel is written in Java under AGPL-3.0. PyMuPDF has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, so-novel 9%. PyMuPDF 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| PyMuPDF | so-novel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 11K | ★ 8.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-07-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 800 | ⑂ 726 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PyMuPDF if
- You weight community size — 11K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick so-novel if
- You want the so-novel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and so-novel fits your workflow better
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 →
About so-novel
So Novel is an AGPL 3.0 Java tool that extracts structured content from web pages and exports it as standard ebook and document formats including EPUB, TXT, and PDF, built for people who want offline copies of web fiction and for anyone turning web content into readable documents.
read the full so-novel overview →
More in Content & Publishing
Related comparisons
More Publishing projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Publishing field.
Frequently asked questions
Is PyMuPDF or so-novel more popular?
PyMuPDF has 10,744 GitHub stars and so-novel has 8,157. PyMuPDF has the larger community by that measure.
Are PyMuPDF and so-novel free?
Both are open source. PyMuPDF is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and so-novel under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PyMuPDF and so-novel?
PyMuPDF is written in Python and so-novel in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, PyMuPDF or so-novel?
Choose PyMuPDF if you want the larger community (10,744 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose so-novel if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.