What is an ebook manager app?

An e-book manager app helps users organize their digital book collection, often by metadata, and may include features for format conversion, syncing with e-readers, and fetching metadata.


In this post, you will find the best open-source and free eBook collection manager.

1. Librum

Librum is an eBook manager that allows users to create a personalized online library, accessible from any device. It offers a simple interface, organization features for sorting and tagging books, and AI integration for additional text information.

Librum is fully customizable and open source, inviting users to propose new features or improvements.

It can self-hosted using Librum Server, on Linux and Windows.

GitHub - Librum-Reader/Librum: The Librum client application
The Librum client application. Contribute to Librum-Reader/Librum development by creating an account on GitHub.

2. eKitaab

eKitaab is an eBook Catalog Manager designed to manage large eBook collections. It displays a list of all books, allows categorization through Reading Lists and Tags, and downloads all information based on the ISBN.

The software ensures the safety of eBooks by not altering them and storing basic information in the filename. It offers benefits like no proprietary format or database constraints, easy data export, and a user-friendly file renaming option for mobile devices or other computers.

eKitaab - EBook Catalog Manager Software
Download eKitaab - EBook Catalog Manager Software for free. An electronic book catalog database organizer software that helps to catalog and search ebook collections. Can automatically search for book information from Amazon to quickly tag the e-book collection.

3. Calibre

Calibre is a versatile e-book manager capable of viewing, converting, editing, and cataloging e-books in all major formats. It can interact with e-book reader devices, fetch metadata for books from the internet, and convert downloaded newspapers into e-books. It is compatible with Linux, Windows, and macOS.

GitHub - kovidgoyal/calibre: The official source code repository for the calibre ebook manager
The official source code repository for the calibre ebook manager - kovidgoyal/calibre

4. Calibre-Web

Calibre-Web is a web app that provides a user-friendly interface for browsing, reading, and downloading eBooks from a valid Calibre database. It features a modern and responsive Bootstrap 3 HTML5 interface.

Features

  • Modern and responsive Bootstrap 3 HTML5 interface
  • Full graphical setup
  • Comprehensive user management with fine-grained per-user permissions
  • Admin interface
  • Multilingual user interface supporting 20+ languages (supported languages)
  • OPDS feed for eBook reader apps
  • Advanced search and filtering options
  • Custom book collection (shelves) creation
  • eBook metadata editing and deletion support
  • Metadata download from various sources (extensible via plugins)
  • eBook conversion through Calibre binaries
  • eBook download restriction to logged-in users
  • Public user registration support
  • Send eBooks to E-Readers with a single click
  • Sync Kobo devices with your Calibre library
  • In-browser eBook reading support for multiple formats
  • Upload new books in various formats, including audio formats
  • Calibre Custom Columns support
  • Content hiding based on categories and Custom Column content per user
  • Self-update capability
  • "Magic Link" login for easy access on eReaders
  • LDAP, Google/GitHub OAuth, and proxy authentication support
GitHub - janeczku/calibre-web: :books: Web app for browsing, reading and downloading eBooks stored in a Calibre database
:books: Web app for browsing, reading and downloading eBooks stored in a Calibre database - janeczku/calibre-web

5. Prossa

Prossa is a free, open-source, web-based ebook reader developed with VueJS. It works offline and supports .epub files.

GitHub - yossTheDev/prossa: 📕 Web-Based Ebook Reader
📕 Web-Based Ebook Reader. Contribute to yossTheDev/prossa development by creating an account on GitHub.

6. Citadel

Citadel is a free, open-source ebook management app, compatible with Calibre. It's in its early stages and may have bugs and missing features. The project aims to be user-friendly, performant, and ensure that any library edited by Citadel can be read by Calibre.

GitHub - every-day-things/citadel: Manage your ebook library without frustrations. Calibre compatible.
Manage your ebook library without frustrations. Calibre compatible. - every-day-things/citadel

7. Bookx

Bookx is a modern, open-source ebook manager powered by Rust, currently in the MVP stage. It features a library, reader, and editor mockups, supports .epub files, and includes a context menu for each book. It also allows for switching the carousel to the book and editing .epub files.

GitHub - adhadse/Bookx: A Modern, Open Source GTK4 ebook manager powered by Rust.
A Modern, Open Source GTK4 ebook manager powered by Rust. - adhadse/Bookx

8. Koodo Reader

Koodo Reader is a free, open-source eBook manager with extensive format support and cross-platform compatibility. It offers features such as data sync and backup, powerful functionality, and a minimalist, distraction-free design for an immersive reading experience.

Platforms

  • Windows
  • Linux: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, AppImage, Flathub, and Snap
  • macOS (x64, ARM arch)
  • Web
Install Koodo Reader on Linux | Flathub
A cross-platform ebook reader
Koodo Reader - A open-source EBook Reader
Koodo Reader is an open-source EBook reader with backup and restore support, runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and Web

9. Sumatra PDF  (Windows)

Sumatra PDF is a free viewer for various file formats, including PDF, eBook, XPS, DjVu, CHM, and Comic Book.

It is portable, fast, and prioritizes a simple user interface. It can be run from a USB drive without writing to the registry. It requires Visual Studio 2019 16.6 or later for compilation. It supports Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista.

SumatraPDF Reader
Download SumatraPDF Reader for free. Multi-format (PDF, EPUB, MOBI, FB2, CHM, XPS, DjVu) reader for Windows. Sumatra PDF is a free PDF, eBook (ePub, Mobi), XPS, DjVu, CHM, Comic Book (CBZ and CBR) viewer for Windows. Sumatra PDF is powerful, small, portable and starts up very fast.

10. KOReader

KOReader is a free document viewer designed for e-ink readers and other devices. It supports multiple formats, including PDF, DjVu, EPUB, FB2, Mobi, DOC, RTF, HTML, CHM, TXT, and scanned documents.

It provides a customizable reading experience with options for page margins, line spacing, fonts, and styles, and includes multi-lingual hyphenation dictionaries.

Features

  • Versatile document viewer designed for e-ink readers and other devices
  • Supports multiple formats (PDF, DjVu, EPUB, FB2, Mobi, DOC, RTF, HTML, CHM, TXT, and scanned documents)
  • Customizable reading experience (page margins, line spacing, fonts, styles)
  • Includes multi-lingual hyphenation dictionaries
  • Portable: runs on embedded devices (Cervantes, Kindle, Kobo, PocketBook, reMarkable), Android and Linux computers
  • Supports fixed page formats and reflowable e-book formats
  • Integrated with calibre (search metadata, receive ebooks wirelessly, browse library via OPDS), Wallabag, Wikipedia, Google Translate and other content providers
  • Optimized for e-ink devices: custom UI without animation, with paginated menus, adjustable text contrast, and easy zoom to fit content or page in paged media
  • Extensible via plugins
  • Fast: less than half the page-turn delay as the built-in reading software on some older devices
  • More features: look up words with StarDict dictionaries / Wikipedia, add your own online OPDS catalogs and RSS feeds, over-the-air software updates, an FTP client, an SSH server
GitHub - koreader/koreader: An ebook reader application supporting PDF, DjVu, EPUB, FB2 and many more formats, running on Cervantes, Kindle, Kobo, PocketBook and Android devices
An ebook reader application supporting PDF, DjVu, EPUB, FB2 and many more formats, running on Cervantes, Kindle, Kobo, PocketBook and Android devices - koreader/koreader

11. Cool Reader

CoolReader is a compact, fast, cross-platform eBook reader for desktops and handheld devices. It supports a wide range of formats including FB2, TXT, RTF, DOC, TCR, HTML, EPUB, CHM, PDB, MOBI. It offers stylesheet support and numerous customizations for enhanced reading performance.

Cool Reader
Download Cool Reader for free. A cross-platform XML/CSS based eBook reader. CoolReader is fast and small cross-platform XML/CSS based eBook reader for desktops and handheld devices. Supported formats: FB2, TXT, RTF, DOC, TCR, HTML, EPUB, CHM, PDB, MOBI.

12. Kiosk

Kiosk is an eBook manager built on SvelteKit that allows for simple library management and automatic metadata retrieval. It can run in serverless environments and uses password-less authentication via Passkeys.

Features

  • Simple library management: Import your ebooks, update their metadata, and get a neat library accessible from any web browser.
  • Automatic metadata retrieval: Kiosk will automatically fetch information about books, authors, and publishers from public knowledge graph data.
  • Easy search integration: Kiosk integrates search services to index and search content in your library.
  • Seamless passkey authentication: By using passkeys, you can sign in to Kiosk using Windows Hello, Touch ID or Face ID and similar authenticators.
  • Book collections: Kiosk allows you to create collections for your books.
  • Easy to self-host: Kiosk is built for maximum flexibility. Run it on Docker, Cloudflare, Vercel, AWS or directly on Node.js. Thanks to SvelteKit, Kiosk can run pretty much anywhere.
GitHub - project-kiosk/kiosk: Kiosk is a simple web application to manage, read and download your ebooks.
Kiosk is a simple web application to manage, read and download your ebooks. - project-kiosk/kiosk

13. Myne (Android)

Myne is a free Android application that allows users to download over 70,000 ebooks from Project Gutenberg. It features a clean UI, an inbuilt ebook reader, compatibility with Android 7.0 and above, and supports Material You theming for Android 12+ devices. It also offers both light and dark mode options.

Features

  • Clean & beautiful UI based on Google's material design three guidelines.
  • Browse and download over 70k free ebooks available in multiple languages and updated daily.
  • Comes with inbuilt ebook reader while also having an option to use third-party ebook readers.
  • Compatible with Android 8.0 and above (API 26+)
  • Supports Material You theming in devices running on Android 12+
  • Comes in both light and dark mode.
  • MAD: UI and logic written with pure Kotlin. Single activity, no fragments, only composable destinations.

Download

Myne
Download Myne for free. An android app to download ebooks from Project Gutenberg. Myne is a FOSS Android application to download ebooks from Project Gutenberg, it uses GutenDex API to fetch metadata of ebooks in the backend.

14. Bookery (Offline-first Web App)

Bookery V2 is an eBook manager based on Vue + Laravel that allows you to manage all your eBooks locally and send them to your reader.

It extracts metadata from uploaded eBooks and organizes them in a searchable structure. It is compatible with Amazon Kindle and can be installed on a NAS like Synology.

GitHub - Patrick-Vogt/bookery: Manage all your ebooks and send them to your reader
Manage all your ebooks and send them to your reader - Patrick-Vogt/bookery

15. Bookstack (Web-based)

Bookstack is a small web application designed to manage ebook collections, particularly in epub format. It's ideal for use on a home server, with books accessible through the web app, and can also be paired with Dropbox for easy access while traveling.

GitHub - Nothorse/bookstack: personal web app for ebook collection and management.
personal web app for ebook collection and management. - Nothorse/bookstack

16. Buka EBook Management

Buka is a free and open-source eBook manager for Linux systems. You can download the installation package for Arch Linux, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and Redhat.

Buka
Download Buka for free. EBook Management. EBook Management Pdf Reader

17. Arianna (Linux)

Arianna is an ebook reader and library management app that supports ".epub" files. It automatically discovers and sorts your books by categories, genres, and authors.

Download

Arianna
EBook Reader

18. Bookworm (Linux)

Bookworm by Siddhartha Das is a focused eBook reader that simplifies reading across various formats including EPUB, PDF, MOBI, CBR, and more. It allows users to manage their library by tagging and updating metadata on books for easy searching and filtering.

Install Bookworm on Linux | Flathub
A focused eBook reader
Bookworm
Bookworm is a eBook reader supporting multiple eBook formats

19. Lyceum

Lyceum is an open-source eBook management system, created out of the need for a privately deployable, cloud-based eBook library service without file size restrictions, offering full content control to the owner.

GitHub - jomkz/lyceum: Lyceum is an open source eBook management system written in Go.
Lyceum is an open source eBook management system written in Go. - jomkz/lyceum

20. COPS (Server)

COPS is a web-based light alternative to Calibre content server/Calibre2OPDS for serving ebooks.

It was created for simplicity, requiring few dependencies, minimal CPU or RAM, and offering search functionality. It also includes a simple HTML catalog for use on devices like Kobo.

GitHub - seblucas/cops: Calibre OPDS (and HTML) PHP Server : web-based light alternative to Calibre content server / Calibre2OPDS to serve ebooks (epub, mobi, pdf, ...)
Calibre OPDS (and HTML) PHP Server : web-based light alternative to Calibre content server / Calibre2OPDS to serve ebooks (epub, mobi, pdf, ...) - seblucas/cops