head to head · open source
ebook2audiobook vs substance
ebook2audiobook has 20,201 GitHub stars, 1,730 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. substance has 2,733 stars, 121 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. ebook2audiobook leads on adoption by 639% (20,201 vs 2,733 stars). ebook2audiobook is written in Python under Apache-2.0; substance is written in JavaScript under MIT. ebook2audiobook has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, substance 4%. ebook2audiobook 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
| ebook2audiobook | substance | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 20K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-04-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 121 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ebook2audiobook if
- You weight community size — 20K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- 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 ebook2audiobook
ebook2audiobook (E2A) is an open source Python tool that converts e books into audiobooks with chapters and metadata, using advanced text to speech engines. It supports voice cloning and 1158 languages, and runs on CPU or GPU. The project lives in the Python ecosystem, is licensed under Apache 2.0, and carries topics covering audiobook, TTS, voice cloning, multilingual output, Gradio, Docker, and XTTS. It has been on GitHub for three years and holds roughly 20,175 stars and 1,727 forks.
read the full ebook2audiobook 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 ebook2audiobook or substance more popular?
ebook2audiobook has 20,201 GitHub stars and substance has 2,733. ebook2audiobook has the larger community by that measure.
Are ebook2audiobook and substance free?
Both are open source. ebook2audiobook is licensed under Apache-2.0 and substance under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ebook2audiobook and substance?
ebook2audiobook is written in Python 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, ebook2audiobook or substance?
Choose ebook2audiobook if you want the larger community (20,201 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose substance if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.