Kavita vs ttu Ebook Reader
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
ttu Ebook Reader
Browser-based ebook reader with progress tracking
| Feature | Kavita | ttu Ebook Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 64 · Good |
| Category | E-books & Media Library | E-books & Media Library |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C# | Svelte |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,728 | ★ 1,037 |
| First released | 2021 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Kindle, ComiXology | Kindle |
What are Kavita and ttu Ebook Reader?
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
ttu Ebook Reader
ttu Ebook Reader is a self-hostable, browser-based reader for EPUB and HTML books with a focus on language-learning readers. It tracks reading progress and statistics entirely in the browser.
- Browser-based EPUB reader
- Reading progress and stats
- Offline capable
- Language-learning friendly
Kavita vs ttu Ebook Reader: key differences
Kavita is written in C#, while ttu Ebook Reader is built with Svelte. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Kavita versus MIT for ttu Ebook Reader. Ttu Ebook Reader is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Kavita. Kavita has the considerably larger community, at 11,728 GitHub stars versus 1,037.
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 ttu Ebook Reader if…
- No backend needed
- Privacy friendly
Watch out for
- Reader only
- No central library
Frequently asked questions
Is Kavita or ttu Ebook Reader 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 ttu Ebook Reader free and open-source?
Yes. Kavita is licensed under GPL-3.0 and ttu Ebook Reader under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kavita and ttu Ebook Reader with Docker?
Kavita: yes. ttu Ebook Reader: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kavita or ttu Ebook Reader?
ttu Ebook Reader has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Kavita. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.