SHSelfHostIndex

Free Programming Books vs OpenBooks

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?
FR Free Programming Books Curated catalog of free programming ebooks and resources VS OP OpenBooks Search and download ebooks from IRC Highway
FeatureFree Programming BooksOpenBooks
CategoryE-books & Media LibraryE-books & Media Library
LicenseCC-BY-4.0GPL-3.0
LanguagePythonGo
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM64 MB128 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, binary
GitHub stars★ 393,952★ 2,390
First released20132019
ReplacesPaid technical book subscriptionsKindle Store

Why pick each one

Choose Free Programming Books if…

  • Enormous free resource
  • Very active
Free Programming Books details

Choose OpenBooks if…

  • Very easy to run
  • Lightweight
OpenBooks details

Frequently asked questions

Is Free Programming Books or OpenBooks 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 Free Programming Books and OpenBooks free and open-source?

Yes. Free Programming Books is licensed under CC-BY-4.0 and OpenBooks under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Free Programming Books and OpenBooks with Docker?

Free Programming Books: check the project docs for container support. OpenBooks: yes.

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