Readerware

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Readerware

A curated collection of the 2 best self hosted alternatives to Readerware.

Readerware is a cataloging and collection-management service for books, music and video. It scans ISBN/UPC, fetches and edits metadata, tracks inventory, generates reports, and offers database publishing/web access for personal users and small libraries.

Alternatives List

#1
BookLogr

BookLogr

Self-hosted web app to catalog and track personal books with lists, reading progress, ratings, notes, OpenLibrary search, Mastodon sharing, and CSV/JSON export.

BookLogr screenshot

BookLogr is a lightweight web application for managing a personal book library. It provides tools to catalog books, track reading progress, record ratings and notes, and optionally publish a public profile of your collection.

Key Features

  • Search millions of titles using OpenLibrary metadata for fast book lookup by title or ISBN
  • Organize books into predefined lists: Reading, Already Read, and To Be Read
  • Track current page and reading progress for individual books
  • Rate books on a 0.5 to 5-star scale and save short notes and quotes
  • Optional public profile to showcase your library and share reading activity
  • Automatic sharing of reading progress to Mastodon
  • Export your library and data in CSV, JSON, and HTML formats
  • Supports SQLite (default) and PostgreSQL as database backends; includes Docker and docker-compose deployment support

Use Cases

  • Maintain a private catalog of owned, read, and planned books with progress tracking
  • Share a curated public reading list or personal library with friends and followers
  • Export or back up reading history and notes for migration or analysis

Limitations and Considerations

  • The project is under active development; users may encounter bugs or breaking changes between releases
  • Feature set is focused on personal/single-user library management and may lack advanced multi-tenant or enterprise features

BookLogr is suitable for individuals who want a simple, private way to track and share their reading. It emphasizes simplicity, OpenLibrary integration for metadata, and straightforward deployment options.

463stars
14forks
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#2
Atsumeru

Atsumeru

Atsumeru is a free self-hosted media server for managing, reading and syncing manga, comics and light novels across native desktop and mobile clients.

Atsumeru is a self-hosted media server designed to manage and serve manga, comics and light novels. It provides library organization, metadata editing and synchronization with native desktop and mobile clients.

Key Features

  • Library management for series and archives with support for categories, autocategories and metacategories
  • Native clients and manager apps for Windows, Linux, macOS and Android with two-way reading history sync
  • Supports archive and ebook formats: CBZ, CBR, CB7, PDF, ePub (limited), FB2 (limited) and DjVu
  • Metadata editing with automatic import from ComicInfo.xml and book_info.json and ability to parse from supported catalogs
  • Multi-user support with separate histories and access-control features including role-based access
  • REST API with OpenAPI/Swagger documentation for integration and automation
  • Docker image available for containerized deployment and a runnable JAR for manual setups
  • Batch download support to download whole series for offline reading

Use Cases

  • Personal library: host and organize a private collection of manga, comics and light novels with rich metadata
  • Small groups or household sharing: provide multi-user access with separate reading histories and access controls
  • Syncing reading progress across desktop and mobile apps while maintaining local control of content

Limitations and Considerations

  • ePub and FB2 support are available but have known limitations in parsing and rendering compared to archive formats
  • Runs on the Java platform and requires a Java runtime for the standalone JAR deployment; resource usage scales with library size

Atsumeru is focused on providing a privacy-friendly, metadata-rich media server tailored for sequential reading formats. It is suitable for users who want local control over their manga/comics/light novel collections and integration with native reading clients.

159stars
9forks
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Why choose an open source alternative?

  • •Data ownership: Keep your data on your own servers
  • •No vendor lock-in: Freedom to switch or modify at any time
  • •Cost savings: Reduce or eliminate subscription fees
  • •Transparency: Audit the code and know exactly what's running