head to head · open source
readest vs ebooklib
readest has 24,413 GitHub stars, 1,586 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ebooklib has 1,809 stars, 259 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. readest leads on adoption by 1,250% (24,413 vs 1,809 stars). readest is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; ebooklib is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. readest has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, ebooklib 14%. 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 | ebooklib | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-07-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 259 |
| 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 ebooklib if
- You want the ebooklib 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 ebooklib 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 ebooklib
EbookLib is a Python library for EPUB2/EPUB3 manipulation and processing. It reads and writes EPUB files programmatically. It lives in the Python content publishing ecosystem. It solves the problem of handling EPUB2/EPUB3 files in Python code without manually building and reading each component.
read the full ebooklib overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is readest or ebooklib more popular?
readest has 24,413 GitHub stars and ebooklib has 1,809. readest has the larger community by that measure.
Are readest and ebooklib free?
Both are open source. readest is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and ebooklib under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between readest and ebooklib?
readest is written in TypeScript and ebooklib 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 ebooklib?
Choose readest if you want the larger community (24,413 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ebooklib if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.