#1
Calibre is a cross-platform e-book manager to organize libraries, edit and convert formats, fetch metadata, and sync content to e-readers.
25.7k stars2.7k forksGPL-3.0last commit Actively maintained
14 self-hosted Kobo alternatives
Kobo is a digital reading platform offering an online bookstore for ebooks and audiobooks plus mobile/desktop reading apps and dedicated eReader devices. It enables purchase, download, syncing and management of digital books and audiobooks across devices.
Alternatives to Kobo
Self-hosted web app to browse, read, download, and manage eBooks from an existing Calibre library, with OPDS catalogs, user permissions, and device sync options.
18.1k stars1.8k forksGPL-3.0last commit Actively maintained
Self-hosted audiobook and podcast server with multi-user playback sync, metadata management, downloads, and web/mobile clients.
14.1k stars1.1k forksGPL-3.0last commit Actively maintained
#4
Open-source self-hosted reading server providing EPUB/PDF/comics readers, OPDS feeds, rich metadata, user/role management, full-text search and a REST API.
11.6k stars655 forksGPL-3.0last commit Actively maintained
#5
Self-hosted media server to organize and read comics and manga, with a web reader, REST API, OPDS catalogs, and eReader sync (Kobo, KOReader).
6.6k stars398 forksMITlast commit Actively maintained
An enhanced Calibre-Web fork that automates eBook ingest, conversion, metadata/cover enforcement, backups, and device sync for a streamlined digital library workflow.
6.2k stars496 forksGPL-3.0last commit Actively maintained
#7
Open-source, cross-platform Qt e-reader and library manager with cloud sync, highlighting, an in-app bookstore, AI-assisted lookups, and support for common formats.
5.3k stars189 forksGPL-3.0last commit Likely dormant
Unified web UI to search, aggregate, and download books and audiobooks from multiple sources, with queue management, metadata providers, and client integrations.
3.8k stars226 forksMITlast commit Actively maintained
#9
Self-hosted server for comics, manga, and digital books with a built-in web UI, OPDS catalog support, and a REST API for library browsing and reading.
2.7k stars153 forksMITlast commit Actively maintained
#10
Teemii is a self-hosted web app for managing, reading, and indexing manga collections with metadata aggregation and scheduled updates.
556 stars47 forksMITlast commit Likely dormant
#11
pyShelf is a lightweight ebook server that scans folders for ebooks, aggregates covers, provides fuzzy search, and lets you browse and download titles via a web UI.
526 stars35 forksGPL-3.0last commit Slowing down
#12
Fork of Calibre-Web providing a Bootstrap-based web UI to browse, read, convert and serve eBooks, comics and PDFs from a Calibre database with Docker support.
235 stars6 forksGPL-3.0last commit Slowing down
#13
Atsumeru is a free self-hosted media server for managing, reading and syncing manga, comics and light novels across native desktop and mobile clients.
189 stars13 forksMITlast commit Actively maintained
#14
Self-hosted web app to scan, manage and read EPUB ebooks with OPDS, metadata editing, uploads, RBAC, OIDC and Docker deployment.
115 stars7 forksGPL-3.0last commit Slowing down
What replacing Kobo actually involves
Every option on this page is open source and free to run on your own hardware, so you own the data and there is no subscription to cancel. 9 of 14 shipped a commit in the last six months. Licences in this list: GPL-3.0, MIT. In exchange you take on hosting, backups and updates yourself.
Browse everything in Books, Comics & Audiobooks Libraries.
