head to head · open source
readest vs calibre-web
readest has 24,413 GitHub stars, 1,586 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped yesterday. calibre-web has 18,198 stars, 1,860 forks, 409 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. readest leads on adoption by 34% (24,413 vs 18,198 stars). readest is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; calibre-web is written in Fluent under GPL-3.0. readest has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, calibre-web 10%. readest was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (calibre, ebook, epub, mobi), 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 | calibre-web | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 18K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Fluent |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 1.9K |
| 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 calibre-web if
- You want the calibre-web feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Fluent
- You evaluated both and calibre-web 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 calibre-web
Calibre Web is a web application that provides a clean and intuitive interface for browsing, reading, and downloading eBooks from a valid Calibre database. It is a fork of the library project (calibreserver) and is licensed under the GPL v3. The project lives in the Calibre ecosystem, and it is distributed through PyPI as the calibreweb package as well as through Docker images. It has been developed for over eleven years and carries roughly 18,183 stars and 1,856 forks on GitHub.
read the full calibre-web overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is readest or calibre-web more popular?
readest has 24,413 GitHub stars and calibre-web has 18,198. readest has the larger community by that measure.
Are readest and calibre-web free?
Both are open source. readest is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and calibre-web under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between readest and calibre-web?
readest is written in TypeScript and calibre-web in Fluent. 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 calibre-web?
Choose readest if you want the larger community (24,413 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose calibre-web if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.