SHSelfHostIndex

13ft vs Free Programming Books

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-books & media library options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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13 13ft Bypass paywall by acting as GoogleBot VS FR Free Programming Books Curated catalog of free programming ebooks and resources
Feature13ftFree Programming Books
CategoryE-books & Media LibraryE-books & Media Library
LicenseMITCC-BY-4.0
LanguagePythonPython
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM50 MB64 MB
Deploymentbare-metalbare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 4,250★ 393,952
First released20232013
Replaces12ftPaid technical book subscriptions

Why pick each one

Choose 13ft if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Active community (4.2k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Python
13ft details

Choose Free Programming Books if…

  • Enormous free resource
  • Very active
Free Programming Books details

Frequently asked questions

Is 13ft or Free Programming Books better?

Neither is universally better. Free Programming Books has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are 13ft and Free Programming Books free and open-source?

Yes. 13ft is licensed under MIT and Free Programming Books under CC-BY-4.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run 13ft and Free Programming Books with Docker?

13ft: check the project docs for container support. Free Programming Books: check the project docs for container support.

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