head to head · open source
readest vs so-novel
readest has 24,470 GitHub stars, 1,594 forks, 145 open issues and last shipped today. so-novel has 8,157 stars, 726 forks, 26 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. readest leads on adoption by 200% (24,470 vs 8,157 stars). readest is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; so-novel is written in Java under AGPL-3.0. readest has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, so-novel 9%. readest was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ebook), 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 | so-novel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 8.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-07-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 726 |
| 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 so-novel if
- You want the so-novel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and so-novel 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 so-novel
So Novel is an AGPL 3.0 Java tool that extracts structured content from web pages and exports it as standard ebook and document formats including EPUB, TXT, and PDF, built for people who want offline copies of web fiction and for anyone turning web content into readable documents.
read the full so-novel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is readest or so-novel more popular?
readest has 24,470 GitHub stars and so-novel has 8,157. readest has the larger community by that measure.
Are readest and so-novel free?
Both are open source. readest is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and so-novel under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between readest and so-novel?
readest is written in TypeScript and so-novel in Java. 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 so-novel?
Choose readest if you want the larger community (24,470 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose so-novel if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.