head to head · open source
readest vs citadel
readest has 24,413 GitHub stars, 1,586 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped yesterday. citadel has 1,276 stars, 20 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped yesterday. readest leads on adoption by 1,813% (24,413 vs 1,276 stars). readest is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; citadel is written in Rust under MIT. readest has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, citadel 2%. citadel was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (calibre, ebook, 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 | citadel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 20 |
| 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 citadel if
- You want the citadel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and citadel 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 citadel
Citadel is a desktop application for managing ebook libraries, written in Rust and released under the MIT license. It is positioned inside the Calibre ecosystem as a backwards compatible manager for ebook collections, with the stated goal that Calibre must be able to read any library that Citadel has edited. The project targets users who want a faster and easier to use interface for organizing ebooks, especially epub files, without replacing the Calibre library format.
read the full citadel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is readest or citadel more popular?
readest has 24,413 GitHub stars and citadel has 1,276. readest has the larger community by that measure.
Are readest and citadel free?
Both are open source. readest is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and citadel under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between readest and citadel?
readest is written in TypeScript and citadel in Rust. 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 citadel?
Choose readest if you want the larger community (24,413 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose citadel if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.