13ft vs Sigil
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-books & media library options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
| Feature | 13ft | Sigil |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-books & Media Library | E-books & Media Library |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 50 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,250 | ★ 6,913 |
| First released | 2023 | 2009 |
| Replaces | 12ft | Adobe InDesign EPUB export |
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
Choose Sigil if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 6.9k GitHub stars
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is 13ft or Sigil better?
Neither is universally better. Sigil has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are 13ft and Sigil free and open-source?
Yes. 13ft is licensed under MIT and Sigil under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run 13ft and Sigil with Docker?
13ft: check the project docs for container support. Sigil: check the project docs for container support.