head to head · open source
readest vs openreader
readest has 25,843 GitHub stars, 1,803 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped yesterday. openreader has 553 stars, 77 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. readest leads on adoption by 4,573% (25,843 vs 553 stars). readest is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; openreader is written in TypeScript under MIT. readest has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, openreader 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 | openreader | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 553 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 77 |
| 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 openreader if
- You want the openreader feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and openreader 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 openreader
📄🔊 OpenReader OpenReader is an open source, self host friendly text to speech document reader built with Next.js for EPUB, PDF, TXT, MD, and DOCX with multilingual, synchronized read along playback. Previously named OpenReader WebUI . Get started in the docs . ✨ Highlights ▶️ Progressive background generation and playback — begin listening as soon as the first segment is ready while the worker continues generating ahead into one durable document timeline; cached audio is reused across seeks, reloads, and exports. 🧱 Layout aware PDF parsing with PP DocLayoutV3 (ONNX) — structured block detection, cross page…
read the full openreader overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is readest or openreader more popular?
readest has 25,843 GitHub stars and openreader has 553. readest has the larger community by that measure.
Are readest and openreader free?
Both are open source. readest is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and openreader under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between readest and openreader?
readest is written in TypeScript and openreader 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, readest or openreader?
Choose readest if you want the larger community (25,843 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose openreader if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.