KOReader vs Transmission

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

Not the right match-up?
FeatureKOReaderTransmission
CategoryE-books & Media LibraryMedia Servers
LicenseAGPL-3.0GPL-3.0
LanguageLuaC++
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM256 MB50 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcebare-metal
GitHub stars★ 28,800★ 15,047
First released20122023
ReplacesKindle, Pocketbook readerµTorrent

Why pick each one

Choose KOReader if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Mature project with 28.8k GitHub stars
  • Written in Lua
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
KOReader details

Choose Transmission if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Mature project with 15k GitHub stars
  • Written in C++
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Transmission details

Frequently asked questions

Is KOReader or Transmission better?

Neither is universally better. KOReader has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are KOReader and Transmission free and open-source?

Yes. KOReader is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Transmission under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run KOReader and Transmission with Docker?

KOReader: check the project docs for container support. Transmission: check the project docs for container support.

Related comparisons