Kavita vs Stump
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-books & media library options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Kavita
Fast self-hosted digital library for all reading
VS
Stump
Fast, low-resource comic and ebook media server
| Feature | Kavita | Stump |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | E-books & Media Library | E-books & Media Library |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C# | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,728 | ★ 2,714 |
| First released | 2021 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Kindle, ComiXology | Kindle, ComiXology |
What are Kavita and Stump?
Kavita
Kavita is a fast, self-hosted digital library that handles e-books, comics, manga, and magazines with a polished reader. It targets readers with mixed digital collections. It is deployed via Docker.
- Handles books, comics and manga
- Fast polished web reader
- Collections and reading lists
- OPDS support
Stump
Stump is a free, open-source comic, manga, and ebook server built with Rust for speed and low resource use. It implements the OPDS standard and offers a modern web interface for browsing and reading.
- Comic and ebook serving
- OPDS support
- Modern web reader
- Very low resource use
Kavita vs Stump: key differences
Kavita is written in C#, while Stump is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Kavita versus MIT for Stump. Stump is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Kavita. Kavita has the considerably larger community, at 11,728 GitHub stars versus 2,714.
Why pick each one
Choose Kavita if…
- Great mixed-media support
- Fast and modern
- Active development
Watch out for
- No metadata editing
- Library organization is folder-based
Choose Stump if…
- Fast and lightweight
- Clean interface
Watch out for
- Still pre-1.0
- Fewer features than Komga
Frequently asked questions
Is Kavita or Stump better?
Neither is universally better. Kavita has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kavita and Stump free and open-source?
Yes. Kavita is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Stump under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kavita and Stump with Docker?
Kavita: yes. Stump: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kavita or Stump?
Stump has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Kavita. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.