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Foliate

Ebook reader for the Linux desktop built with GTK

E-books & Media Library ★ 8.8k stars Easy setup GPL-3.0

Foliate is an open-source ebook reader for the Linux desktop built with GTK. It reads EPUB and other ebook formats with a clean paginated view, customizable themes, annotations, and offline reading. It is a desktop app, not a server.

Official siteSource code

Key features

  • Ebook reading
  • EPUB and PDF support
  • Annotations and highlights
  • Offline reading

Pros & cons

Strengths

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 8.8k GitHub stars

Trade-offs

  • Primarily a desktop reader
  • See Foliate desktop app

Is Foliate secure?

OSV.dev has no published security advisories for Foliate's repository. No known vulnerabilities is not proof of security: it means none have been publicly catalogued.

Source: OSV.dev, checked 2026-10-14. How this is measured.

Foliate replaces

Self-hosted Kindle alternatives

Health badge

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SelfHostIndex: 63 · good

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<a href="https://selfhostindex.com/app/foliate/"><img src="https://selfhostindex.com/badge/foliate.svg" alt="SelfHostIndex health score for Foliate"></a>
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.. image:: https://selfhostindex.com/badge/foliate.svg
   :alt: SelfHostIndex health score for Foliate
   :target: https://selfhostindex.com/app/foliate/

The score is recomputed on every nightly rebuild from public repository data — see how it is calculated.

Compare Foliate

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