# BookLore 6 Hacker News commenters recommended BookLore and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Free self-hosted ebook library people use as a Calibre replacement for its better UX and e-reader integration, though the most common caveat is that maintenance has stalled. ## Why people recommend it - Replaces Calibre with better UX (2 comments): "brought over everything Calibre did but with much better UX and e-reader integration" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49416634)) "looks like a great replacement for Calibre" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47009538)) - Gives access to all your ebooks (2 comments): "This gives me access to all of my ebooks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46286861)) "connect to my Booklore library that adds my own ebooks seamlessly on top of the one I can get from the Kobo store" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46198382)) - Seems great, works despite rough UX (2 comments): "Booklore seems great, but I'll admit there may be even better options." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47817451)) "It is not the best UX ever but it works" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49107782)) ## What people warn about - Maintenance stalled, single maintainer (2 comments): "There was some whole blowup with Booklore over it being vibecoded by a single maintainer recently." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47817545)) "Booklore maintenance stopped a while ago." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49099221)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Anna's Archive](https://hackerapproved.com/p/anna-s-archive.md): 134 recommend - [Project Gutenberg](https://hackerapproved.com/p/project-gutenberg.md): 76 recommend - [Standard Ebooks](https://hackerapproved.com/p/standard-ebooks.md): 34 recommend - [Library Genesis](https://hackerapproved.com/p/library-genesis.md): 15 recommend - [LibGen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/libgen.md): 12 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "BookLore", https://hackerapproved.com/p/booklore/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).