Free Programming Books
E-books & Media LibraryCurated catalog of free programming ebooks and resources
Replaces Paid technical book subscriptions
Best No-Database E-books & Media Library for self-hosting
The 14 best No-Database e-books & media library you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
epub.js
E-books & Media LibraryJavaScript library for rendering EPUB books in the browser
pdf2htmlEX
E-books & Media LibraryConverts PDF documents to HTML while preserving layout
Replaces Commercial PDF converters
OpenBooks
E-books & Media LibrarySearch and download ebooks from IRC Highway
Replaces Kindle Store
Standard Ebooks Tools
E-books & Media LibraryToolset for producing and validating high-quality EPUBs
Replaces Commercial ebook production tools
ttu Ebook Reader
E-books & Media LibraryBrowser-based ebook reader with progress tracking
Replaces Kindle
mangadex-downloader
E-books & Media LibraryCommand-line downloader for MangaDex manga
Replaces Manual downloads
kepubify
E-books & Media LibraryFast EPUB to Kobo KEPUB converter in a single binary
Zimit
E-books & Media LibraryCaptures websites into offline-readable ZIM archives
Replaces Pocket, web archiving services
ComicTagger
E-books & Media LibraryCross-platform metadata editor for comic archives
Replaces ComiXology
kobodl
E-books & Media LibraryDownload and de-DRM books from your Kobo account
Replaces Kobo
Kthoom
E-books & Media LibraryIn-browser comic book and archive reader
Replaces ComiXology
COPS
E-books & Media LibraryCalibre OPDS and HTML PHP server
Replaces Kindle
dir2opds
E-books & Media LibraryMinimal OPDS server for personal ebook collections
Replaces Calibre Content Server
No apps match these filters.
At a glance
| App | Deploy effort | Difficulty | Min. RAM | License | ★ Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Programming Books | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 64 MB | CC-BY-4.0 | 398,998 |
| epub.js | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 128 MB | BSD-3-Clause | 6,962 |
| pdf2htmlEX | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | GPL-3.0 | 5,605 |
| OpenBooks | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 128 MB | GPL-3.0 | 2,421 |
| Standard Ebooks Tools | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 256 MB | GPL-3.0 | 1,683 |
| ttu Ebook Reader | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 128 MB | MIT | 1,043 |
| mangadex-downloader | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 128 MB | MIT | 928 |
| kepubify | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 64 MB | MIT | 896 |
| Zimit | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 1,024 MB | GPL-3.0 | 855 |
| ComicTagger | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 256 MB | Apache-2.0 | 839 |
Quick picks
- Most adopted: Free Programming Books (398,998 GitHub stars).
- Lightest footprint: Free Programming Books (from 64 MB RAM, against 1,024 MB for the heaviest here).
- Licensing: 6 of 14 use MIT; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged No-Database within the e-books & media library category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.