head to head · open source
readest vs foliate-js
readest has 25,874 GitHub stars, 1,805 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped yesterday. foliate-js has 1,146 stars, 296 forks, 61 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. readest leads on adoption by 2,158% (25,874 vs 1,146 stars). readest is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; foliate-js is written in JavaScript under MIT. readest has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, foliate-js 26%. readest was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (ebook, ebook-reader, 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| readest | foliate-js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-05-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 296 |
| 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 foliate-js if
- You want the foliate-js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and foliate-js 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 foliate-js
foliate js Library for rendering e books in the browser. Features: Supports EPUB, MOBI, KF8 (AZW3), FB2, CBZ, PDF (experimental; requires PDF.js) Add support for other formats yourself by implementing the book interface Pure JavaScript Small and modular No hard dependencies Does not require loading whole file into memory Does not care about older browsers Demo The repo includes a demo viewer that can be used to open local files. To use it, serve the files with a server, and navigate to reader.html . Or visit the online demo hosted on GitHub. Note that it is very incomplete at the moment, and lacks many basic…
read the full foliate-js 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 readest or foliate-js more popular?
readest has 25,874 GitHub stars and foliate-js has 1,146. readest has the larger community by that measure.
Are readest and foliate-js free?
Both are open source. readest is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and foliate-js under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between readest and foliate-js?
readest is written in TypeScript and foliate-js in JavaScript. 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 foliate-js?
Choose readest if you want the larger community (25,874 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose foliate-js if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.