COPS vs Plato
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 | COPS | Plato |
|---|---|---|
| Category | E-books & Media Library | E-books & Media Library |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 130 | ★ 1,687 |
| First released | 2013 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Kindle | Kobo reader app, Kindle |
Why pick each one
Choose Plato if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Active community (1.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is COPS or Plato better?
Neither is universally better. Plato has the larger community, while COPS is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are COPS and Plato free and open-source?
Yes. COPS is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Plato under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run COPS and Plato with Docker?
COPS: yes. Plato: check the project docs for container support.