BookLore
Ranked 12 of 13 ebook libraries by recommenders
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.
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.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 55%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Replaces Calibre with better UX
“brought over everything Calibre did but with much better UX and e-reader integration”
Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “A website for debloated open source alternatives” “looks like a great replacement for Calibre”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Choices for a Self-Hosted eBook Server” Gives access to all your ebooks
“This gives me access to all of my ebooks”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Quill OS: An open-source OS for Kobo's eReaders” “connect to my Booklore library that adds my own ebooks seamlessly on top of the one I can get from the Kobo store”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Let's put Tailscale on a jailbroken Kindle” Seems great, works despite rough UX
“Booklore seems great, but I'll admit there may be even better options.”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “Amazon is discontinuing Kindle for PC on June 30th” “It is not the best UX ever but it works”
Comment from 30 Jul 2026 in “KOReader”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Maintenance stalled, single maintainer
“There was some whole blowup with Booklore over it being vibecoded by a single maintainer recently.”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “Amazon is discontinuing Kindle for PC on June 30th” “Booklore maintenance stopped a while ago.”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “KOReader”
Other ebook libraries people recommend
The four most recommended other ebook libraries, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anna's Archive | 134 | 57 | 70% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Project Gutenberg | 76 | 8 | 90% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Standard Ebooks | 34 | 8 | 81% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Library Genesis | 15 | 2 | 88% | 7 | — | Approved |
| BookLoreThis page | 6 | 5 | 55% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
10 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The website itself is broken”
“brought over everything Calibre did but with much better UX and e-reader integration”
“It is not the best UX ever but it works”
“Booklore maintenance stopped a while ago.”
“There was some whole blowup with Booklore over it being vibecoded by a single maintainer recently.”
“Booklore seems great, but I'll admit there may be even better options.”
“looks like a great replacement for Calibre”
“The biggest issue I have with BookLore is it doesn't have an Android app that syncs automatically where you last left when reading on desktop.”
“This gives me access to all of my ebooks”
“connect to my Booklore library that adds my own ebooks seamlessly on top of the one I can get from the Kobo store”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.