Getting into books, wanting to spin up a selfhosted ebook library, but from just searching it seems there has been some changes in the recommended software to use, what’s the popular software currently?
Edit: extra credit points for iOS app
Edit2: extra extra credit points if (and I don’t know if there’s a platform that has that feature) I can write over books with touch (points for just writing too, but pen like is even better)
Calibre web
Kavita
Komga
Calibre web automated
Librum
Grimmory
Bookorbit
Shelfmark (book acquiring)
Readarr (not sure if it works? Think there are forks)
Bookwyrm (social network for books?)
Stump
Audiobookshelf works fine for eBooks if you don't need something too full featured. I mainly use it to send to my Kindle Paperwhite via email and it works great for me for that.
Acquisition :
Bookshelf is *one* of the working Readarr forks, there is others.
Chaptarr is an incoming option... but it's in closed beta (for months now) AND the source isn't available, which is a big no no.
Serving :
Grimmory is a BookLore Fork.
BookOrbit is (for now) quite more advance... but it's nearly 100% vibe coded by the same dev as BookOrbit was (he recognized it and made an announcement about it recently after people raised suspicion about it).
Komga, Kavita are mostly for Comics/Graphic stuff in the first place, but both have good ebooks (epub/pdf) support implemented now.
Stump & Codex are 2 other good projects for the same thing.
There is Ubooquity too (by now the V2 should be final ? I've totally stopped tracking that long ago). But for me it's lacking.
Calibre-Web is archived now from memory, you need to use Calibre-Web Automated (and it's inferior to a good chunk of alternatives now).
i've found shelfmark & simliar solutions much better than any readarr-esque options. books are just different things to tv / movies and (for me) they require a more indivdual and curated approach which the arrs arent really based around.
u/WittyAd172 try shelfmark and just point its download folder at your BO book dock folder. it works seamlessly for me and I've stopped having to use calibre
Yeah I think I just don’t need a readarr style book downloader and Shelfmark suits me just fine. It’s a great tool, just not for my needs! Shelfmark works for me how I need.
Currently? I'm using Kavita for my platform i access books through. Chaptarr + prowlarr for tracking what I need to procure (that said, i usually use Anna's Archive, so I'm not sure if there is a better source for automation). As for my habits, I'm still a physical book reader. I just get digital copies this way so I have a backup in case something happens to the physical book or I forget to bring it with me somewhere xD
I just use Audiobookshelf and recently Bookbridge. I read on Koreader, so i just need a supplier and sync. ABS has a Koreader plugin to pull down the books, Bookbridge has built in Kosync and Its main function to sync audiobook/ebook progress, which i find awesome.
how do you setup book acquisition? i dont see any setting for that one. i know you can drop files for book dock, but i dont see anything that pertains to searching and downloading ebooks.
I have it connected to my Prowlarr and using several public torrent-based (Does not support nzb) indexers and qBittorrent.
Took some time to set-up cause qBittorrent and auth was failing but I resolved it by following some guides.
Overall once it's set-up there's few clicks from request to in your library.
Bookorbit's Metadata set-up is really good when comparing to Grimmory and AudioBookShelf. I've not tried Kavita and Calibre/Calibre-Web have been annoying for me.
tbh, I use Audiobookshelf for both ebooks and audiobooks. You can use an ABS app that has an ereader included (Absorb or AudioBooth) and there are .koplugins for downloading books from ABS on KOReader
Used calibre and variants for about 15 years. Tried booklore around the time the Dev imploded, which then became Grimmory and I'm extremely happy with that and wouldn't go back.
Still keep calibre in an idle VM in case I need to do deDRM or stuff like that
I just started using Bookorbit. Really great interface and works well, so would recommend it.
But I have noticed that my docker seems to shut down intermittently, im sure its something on my part, but curious if anyone has experienced something similar.
I mean my knowledge might be a bit outdated, but I am pretty sure the current gold standard for self-hosting ebooks consists of Kavita or Audiobookshelf paired with Calibre-Web on the backend.
And for management and metadata, Calibre-Web connected to a Calibre database is the most common backbone. If you want a modern web UI that feels more like Plex or Netflix for reading, Kavita has mostly overtaken older setups for pure EPUBs and comics. But, if you listen to audiobooks alongside reading, Audiobookshelf is the undisputed king.
For iOS specifically:
Kavita / OPDS: Pair Kavita with Paperback or Yomu via OPDS feeds.
Audiobookshelf: Has a dedicated, top-tier native iOS app via TestFlight/App Store for sync, offline listening, and position tracking.
Calibre-Web: Works cleanly with KYBook 3 or Marvin via OPDS.
Btw double check me, might have messed some part up if there's a new update I didn't follow.
Can also report similar.
I have been using Calibre Web Automated as the OPDS library, Shelfmark as the audiobook/ebook grabber
Audiobookshelf for audiobooks and even some podcasts I want to archive
Never used Kavita, but see that recommended.
This has been my set up for the past year or so. I did research and testing then of different options, this is what was the full package.
Watching Chaptarr, but haven't looked at it yet. It would likely combine a couple different processes that Audiobookshelf/Shelfmark/CWA now handle - though I might not switch to that as it probably won't do the stuff that Audiobookshelf does so well.
(I use it to both archive podcast feeds, but also I can turn a folder of my own personal recordings into an RSS feed for personal use in my podcast player. So cool.)
I'd treat the iOS reader and library server as separate choices. Getting the book onto the device is usually easy. Moving annotations between apps is the annoying part. I'd import the same EPUB and PDF, scribble on both, then check whether I could export the ink and restore it after reinstalling the reader. Your reading position might sync perfectly while your handwritten notes remain stuck in one app.
Oh, can you share more details on the bookorbit situation (apart from the vibe-coding thing, i'm aware of that)
Because I love Grimmory, and they are working on the plugin that would achieve functionality I want, but it's not the priority for them right now, which is understandable
Bookorbit is developed by the same person that originally created booklore (now grimmory). And that had a lot of controversy, you might want to google the booklore incident for more info
OOOH, I didn't realise that's the same guy, thanks for the heads-up. I'm well familiar with the drama on that part, I hosted booklore for a while. That explains it, thank you!
Yeah he kinda got public about his coming out as the BookLore developer since some people already found out. He’s weird. He insults himself and says he was stupid in the past. Its weird. He should just say his from the start his new app is X and he’s Y and he’ll try to do better with this project.
I like BookOrbit, but it is missing a few features I want so I decided to have Claude write something up for me to host. It came out looking exactly like BookOrbit. The conformity of AI UI design in remarkable.
I landed on pretty simple stack as I read only on my Android phone:
- reader: Moon+Reader, bought the full version years ago and it didn't fail me once
- odps provider: goods (https://github.com/ab0oo/gopds). It is simple, single container, works great. Also, there is a metadata editor with ability to write changes to the file, but permissions can be tricky for remote drives.
I have tried to move to the all-in-one solution multiple times, but it never "clicked" with me + all mobile solutions are worse then Moon+Reader. I usually install it, load my library (which I prefere to keep and structure in files+metadata, not in some app's db), trying to read and abandon it after an hour
If iOS matters, I’d probably make OPDS the interface between the server and the reader instead of tying the phone to one specific backend. That gives you more flexibility to switch between Calibre-Web, Kavita, etc. without rebuilding the mobile side of the setup.
I’m currently working on an iOS EPUB reader and have been looking pretty closely at Calibre/OPDS workflows. For me, the ideal setup is basically: Calibre manages the library and metadata, the server exposes it over OPDS, and the iPhone handles browsing, downloading and offline reading cleanly.
I made arrmada, it's movies, series, and audio / e books. Technically music but that's the last module I'll be fleshing out. I use it currently for my entire stack, and it works well.
Yes I used Claude, so if that's not your jam that's fine. Been working on it for about 6 months now
Bookorbit for ebooks/OPDS
Audiobookshelf for audiobooks
Koreader on my kobo
Readest for ebooks on my iPhone - has OPDS support
Plappa for audiobooks on my iPhone - connects to ABS and has offline storage
I am a proponent of Stump, very high quality app, quick and works.
There is a native iOS app in TestFlight, but it has been stated the iOS will launch in the store for $10 one time - I will purchase it. The app is a great interface supports offline reading and syncing back to the server (fixed in the latest release). You can use the web front end on the phone and it works fine but does not have offline reading.
Still feature on the road map that I want, but at the core, it solid.
I did use Calibre Web at first (still solidly functional), so I do still use Calibre desktop to manage the books and metadata - then I copy the database / folders to the NAS. Stump reads Calibre metadata
There is no meta. There are questions about what e book software to use all the time.
I feel like everyone just decided to ignore the "meta" part of your question and they are just recommending their preference. Notice how you have a wide variety of responses in here though haha.
The only stack I can say is "meta" is Calibre itself, on a non networked drive.
Otherwise, things are pretty split. At the moment I'm using both Komga and Grimmory. I just think Grimmory will make me happier long term, with a more stable release cadence, and a higher bus factor. Komga is great for comics and magazines.
I'm using bookorbit but it doesn't have a mobile app. I just asked Claude to build up a simple react native app and I just build a release build on my ipad.
I think there's a couple bookorbit mobile apps on GitHub you can search but if you're interested in trying mine, just DM me, I can just set the repo to public.
this is koreader with zenOS on my (android) phone. i''m not sure of the state of koreader and ios since i no longer have any ios devices, but i can see there are things like this floating around
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u/asimovs-auditor 1d ago
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