Kavita is a self-hosted reading server built to handle manga, comics (CBR, CBZ, ZIP/RAR), and ebooks (EPUB, PDF). It ships a responsive web reader that works on phones, tablets, and desktops, with multi-user support and per-user reading progress. Setup is a single binary or Docker container; no account or external service is needed.
Reviewed by Marcus Holmberg
Kavita
kavitareader.com 1 rating so far*
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Threat level
Hardened
A hardened pick. Worth the effort once you have chosen to shrink your footprint on purpose. Enough for most people. Threat levels
Our take
Kavita fills a gap that general media servers like Jellyfin do not: a first-class reading experience for digital comics and manga collections, with proper chapter tracking and a purpose-built reader. The web reader is solid, though power users who want native mobile reading apps will find the options thin compared to the Subsonic ecosystem for music. Kavita+ is an optional paid subscription for premium metadata features, but the core server is entirely free and self-contained. Worth it for anyone with a large CBZ or EPUB library who wants to read from any device without a third-party service.
GitHub at a glance
Kareadita/Kavita
Stars
11,153
+ 160 this week
Last commit
9d ago
healthy
License
GPL-3.0
Latest release
v0.9.0.2
2mo ago
Stars, last 31d
Website at a glance
kavitareader.com
D score 30
Weak website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested today
Inspect this site yourself
Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.
Kavita alternatives
Kavita license, in plain English
GPL-3.0 Strong copyleft
Free to use and modify, but anything you distribute that is built on it must also be open under the same license.
Permits
- Commercial use
- Modification
- Distribution
- Patent use
- Private use
Requires
- Disclose source
- Same license
- State changes
- License and copyright notice
Does not provide
- Liability cover
- Warranty
Why it matters: Strong copyleft keeps every distributed version open. A vendor cannot fold this into a closed product and ship it without releasing their changes.
Plain-language summary of the project's license, not legal advice. Read the full text for the exact terms.
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