Calibre-Web vs Readest

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?
FeatureCalibre-WebReadest
CategoryE-books & Media LibraryE-books & Media Library
LicenseGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageHTMLTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 17,830★ 23,192
First released20172024
ReplacesKindle, GoodreadsKindle, Apple Books

Why pick each one

Choose Calibre-Web if…

  • Great companion to Calibre
  • Multi-user access
  • Lightweight
Calibre-Web details

Choose Readest if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 23.2k GitHub stars
  • Written in TypeScript
Readest details

Frequently asked questions

Is Calibre-Web or Readest better?

Neither is universally better. Readest has the larger community, while Calibre-Web is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Calibre-Web and Readest free and open-source?

Yes. Calibre-Web is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Readest under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Calibre-Web and Readest with Docker?

Calibre-Web: yes. Readest: yes.

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