Jackett vs Readest

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureJackettReadest
CategoryMedia ServersE-books & Media Library
LicenseGPL-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageC#TypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM200 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 15,854★ 23,192
First released20232024
ReplacesKindle, Apple Books

Why pick each one

Choose Jackett if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Mature project with 15.9k GitHub stars
  • Written in C#
Jackett 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 Jackett or Readest better?

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

Are Jackett and Readest free and open-source?

Yes. Jackett is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Readest under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Jackett and Readest with Docker?

Jackett: check the project docs for container support. Readest: yes.

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