head to head · open source
Calibre-Web-Automated vs substance
Calibre-Web-Automated has 6,308 GitHub stars, 521 forks, 443 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. substance has 2,733 stars, 121 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. Calibre-Web-Automated leads on adoption by 131% (6,308 vs 2,733 stars). Calibre-Web-Automated is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; substance is written in JavaScript under MIT. Calibre-Web-Automated has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, substance 4%. Calibre-Web-Automated 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
| Calibre-Web-Automated | substance | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.3K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-07 | 2026-04-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 521 | ⑂ 121 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Calibre-Web-Automated if
- You weight community size — 6.3K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick substance if
- You want the substance feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and substance fits your workflow better
About Calibre-Web-Automated
Calibre Web Automated is a free, GPL 3.0, self hosted digital library server distributed as the Docker image crocodilestick/calibre web automated , aimed at self hosters who want one automated service instead of running Calibre and Calibre Web side by side.
read the full Calibre-Web-Automated overview →
About substance
Substance is a JavaScript library for web based content editing. It lives in the JavaScript and Content & Publishing / Publishing ecosystem, and it is distributed under the MIT license. The README describes it as a library that provides building blocks for realizing custom text editors and web based publishing systems, and it was developed to power the online editing platform Substance.
read the full substance overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Calibre-Web-Automated or substance more popular?
Calibre-Web-Automated has 6,308 GitHub stars and substance has 2,733. Calibre-Web-Automated has the larger community by that measure.
Are Calibre-Web-Automated and substance free?
Both are open source. Calibre-Web-Automated is licensed under GPL-3.0 and substance under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Calibre-Web-Automated and substance?
Calibre-Web-Automated is written in JavaScript and substance 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, Calibre-Web-Automated or substance?
Choose Calibre-Web-Automated if you want the larger community (6,308 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose substance if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.