head to head · open source
lerna vs readest
lerna has 36,041 GitHub stars, 2,269 forks, 287 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. readest has 25,874 stars, 1,805 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lerna leads on adoption by 39% (36,041 vs 25,874 stars). lerna is written in TypeScript under MIT; readest is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. lerna has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, readest 7%. readest 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
| lerna | readest | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 36K | ★ 26K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick lerna if
- You weight community size — 36K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick readest if
- You want the readest feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and readest fits your workflow better
About lerna
Important note: this project changed stewardship to Nx! Your favorite tool is alive and well: Lerna is a fast, modern build system for managing and publishing multiple JavaScript/TypeScript packages from the same repository. A few links to help you get started: lerna.js.org: Documentation, Guides, Interactive Tutorials Getting Started Features Official Nx and Lerna YouTube Channel Blog Posts About Lerna and Nx Engage with the Core Team and the Community Follow Lerna on Twitter Community Discord, forum channel Want to help? If you want to file a bug or submit a PR, read up on our guidelines for contributing Core…
read the full lerna overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lerna or readest more popular?
lerna has 36,041 GitHub stars and readest has 25,874. lerna has the larger community by that measure.
Are lerna and readest free?
Both are open source. lerna is licensed under MIT and readest under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lerna and readest?
lerna is written in TypeScript and readest in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, lerna or readest?
Choose lerna if you want the larger community (36,041 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose readest if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.