SHSelfHostIndex

mangadex-downloader vs Readest

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?
MA mangadex-downloader Command-line downloader for MangaDex manga VS RE Readest Cross-platform ebook reader with sync server
Featuremangadex-downloaderReadest
CategoryE-books & Media LibraryE-books & Media Library
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguagePythonTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, binary, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 904★ 23,192
First released20212024
ReplacesManual downloadsKindle, Apple Books

Why pick each one

Choose mangadex-downloader if…

  • Many export formats
  • Actively maintained
mangadex-downloader 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 mangadex-downloader or Readest better?

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

Are mangadex-downloader and Readest free and open-source?

Yes. mangadex-downloader is licensed under MIT and Readest under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run mangadex-downloader and Readest with Docker?

mangadex-downloader: check the project docs for container support. Readest: yes.

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