What is Kavita used for?

Kavita is a self-hosted reading server for comics, manga and ebooks that serves EPUB, PDF and comic archives through responsive web readers and shared libraries. It is a good fit for hosting a personal manga and comic library; sharing an ebook collection with family; and reading across phone, tablet and desktop.

Is Kavita open source?

Yes. Kavita is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at Kareadita/Kavita and is written mainly in C#.

Yes. Kavita is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Kavita?

Yes. Kavita can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What is Kavita an alternative to?

Kavita is an open-source alternative to Everand, Storytel and Kobo. Other open-source alternatives to Everand include Grimmory, Calibre-Web and Audiobookshelf.

Is Kavita actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Kavita was on 1 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.9.1.4, published on 2 September 2026. The project has 12k stars on GitHub.

Kavita: open-source alternative to Everand, Storytel, Kobo

About Kavita

Kavita is a cross-platform reading server written in C#. You run it on your own machine, point it at your collection of comics, manga, webtoons and books, and read through responsive web readers on a phone, tablet or desktop, with the option to share the collection with friends and family.

It handles formats such as CBR, CBZ, ZIP, RAR, 7-Zip and raw images for comics, and EPUB and PDF for books. The library offers rich metadata with filters and smart filters, collections, reading lists with CBL import, and a want-to-read list. Readers support webtoon and continuous modes and virtual pages for EPUB, themes can be customized, and EPUB annotations and highlights are available. Role-based user management covers age restrictions and OIDC.

Extra metadata, reviews, ratings, recommendations and scrobbling are available via the optional Kavita+ service. Kavita is licensed under GPL-3.0, offers a public demo and a wiki for installation on various platforms, supports OPDS feeds, and the maintainers describe it as beta software until a 1.0.0 release.

Key features

Serves comics, manga and webtoons
Reads EPUB and PDF books
Responsive web readers for any device
Collections, reading lists and want-to-read
Role-based users with age restrictions
Smart filters and rich metadata
OPDS feeds and EPUB annotations

Good fit for

→Hosting a personal manga and comic library
→Sharing an ebook collection with family
→Reading across phone, tablet and desktop

Built with: C#
Tags: comics; manga; ebooks; epub; reading-server; self-hosted; opds; media-server; csharp

Kavita: questions and answers

What is Kavita used for?: Kavita is a self-hosted reading server for comics, manga and ebooks that serves EPUB, PDF and comic archives through responsive web readers and shared libraries. It is a good fit for hosting a personal manga and comic library; sharing an ebook collection with family; and reading across phone, tablet and desktop.
Is Kavita open source?: Yes. Kavita is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at Kareadita/Kavita and is written mainly in C#.
Is Kavita free?: Yes. Kavita is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Kavita?: Yes. Kavita can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is Kavita an alternative to?: Kavita is an open-source alternative to Everand, Storytel and Kobo. Other open-source alternatives to Everand include Grimmory, Calibre-Web and Audiobookshelf.
Is Kavita actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Kavita was on 1 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.9.1.4, published on 2 September 2026. The project has 12k stars on GitHub.