head to head · open source
readest vs feather
readest has 25,874 GitHub stars, 1,805 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped yesterday. feather has 609 stars, 54 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped yesterday. readest leads on adoption by 4,149% (25,874 vs 609 stars). readest is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; feather is written in Swift under MIT. readest has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, feather 9%. feather 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.
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Side by side
| readest | feather | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 609 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 54 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick readest if
- You weight community size — 26K 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 feather if
- You want the feather feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and feather fits your workflow better
About readest
Readest [Readest][link website] is an open source ebook reader designed for immersive and deep reading experiences. Built as a modern rewrite of Foliate, it leverages Next.js 16 and Tauri v2 to deliver a smooth, cross platform experience across macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, and the Web. [![Website][badge website]][link website] [![Web App][badge web app]][link web readest] [![OS][badge platforms]][link website] [![Discord][badge discord]][link discord] [![Reddit][badge reddit]][link reddit] [![AGPL Licence][badge license]](LICENSE) [![Language Coverage][badge language coverage]][link locales]…
read the full readest overview →
About feather
Feather CMS 🪶 ⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️ !WORK IN PROGRESS! ⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️ 🪶 Feather is a modern Swift based Content Management System. 💬 Click to join the chat on Discord. Make Commands Run these from the repository root: make clean Clears only the Postgres database volume and media storage volume. make reset Drops the full Compose stack, including all Compose managed volumes. make stop Stops all running services without removing them. make deps Builds and runs the current dependency services: certificates , postgres , and migrator . make application Builds the shared application artifact image once, builds the runtime images from…
read the full feather overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is readest or feather more popular?
readest has 25,874 GitHub stars and feather has 609. readest has the larger community by that measure.
Are readest and feather free?
Both are open source. readest is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and feather under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between readest and feather?
readest is written in TypeScript and feather in Swift. 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 feather?
Choose readest if you want the larger community (25,874 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose feather if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.