Best Free & Open Source Alternatives to ComiXology

Kavita is a self-hosted reading server for managing and reading manga, webtoons, comics, and ebooks from your own library. It handles CBZ, CBR, ZIP/RAR/RAR5, 7zip, raw image folders, EPUB, and PDF, and runs as a native build on Windows, Linux, and macOS, on a NAS, or in Docker.

The web reader is fully responsive and adapts to any screen size, with dedicated modes for webtoons (vertical scrolling), continuous reading, and EPUB virtual pages. Libraries get rich metadata with filtering and smart filters, plus collections, reading lists, a Want to Read shelf, and CBL reading-list imports with a tiered matcher and per-series remap rules. Multiple users can be managed with role-based permissions and age restrictions, OIDC single sign-on is supported, and both the UI and dashboard layout are customizable, including themes from a community theme repo. Reading progress syncs across devices, and EPUB annotations and highlights are supported.

Kavita is free and open source under GPL-3.0, and it replaces older or proprietary comic and ebook servers such as Ubooquity and ComiXology. An optional paid subscription, Kavita+, adds internet-facing extras — external metadata from MangaBaka, Hardcover, and ComicBookRoundup, progress scrobbling to Hardcover, MAL, AniList, and MangaBaka, plus external ratings and recommendations. No base-Kavita features sit behind that subscription.

Grimmory is a self-hosted library management system for ebooks, comics, audiobooks, and PDFs. It scans your own folders and serves the collection through dedicated browser readers, so the files and the reading data stay on your server. Supported formats cover EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, PDF, CBZ/CBR/CB7 for comics, and M4B, M4A, MP3, and OPUS for audiobooks. It runs from a Docker Compose stack backed by MariaDB and listens on port 6060 by default.

Each format gets its own reader: an ebook reader with annotations, highlights, bookmarks, search, and custom fonts; a PDF reader with page-level progress and page-spread modes; a comic reader with fit and scroll modes plus left-to-right or right-to-left paging; and an audiobook player with chapters, track listings, and playback speed. Libraries are organised with Smart Shelves and magic shelves driven by rule-based filters, tags, and full-text search. Metadata, covers, descriptions, reviews, and ratings can be pulled from Google Books, Open Library, Amazon, Hardcover, LubimyCzytac, and RanobeDB, then edited field by field or locked so scans do not overwrite them. BookDrop watches a folder and stages incoming files with fetched metadata for review before import, and duplicate detection and sidecar files keep a large collection consistent.

Grimmory is multi-user, with separate shelves, progress, and preferences per account, local logins, and OpenID Connect single sign-on through providers such as Authentik, Pocket ID, and Authelia, including group mappings and content restrictions. Books reach real devices through Kobo sync, which pushes the Kobo shelf and pulls reading progress and ratings back, through KOReader progress sync, or through the OPDS server used by apps like Moon+ Reader. A Komga-compatible API lets Tachiyomi and Komelia clients stream comic pages. Everything is free and open source under AGPL-3.0 with no subscription, which is the main contrast with storefront libraries like Kindle, Scribd, and Audible, and with older self-hosted servers such as Ubooquity.

Kumiho is a self-hosted web media server built in Go, designed to manage and stream personal collections of comics, manga, webtoons, ebooks, and audiobooks. It mirrors your existing folder structure directly — no complex metadata matching, no library reorganisation required.

Key features include a responsive webtoon/manga viewer with scrolling modes, audiobook support with chapter lists, resume playback, bookmarks, and a sleep timer, and support for archive formats like CBZ and ZIP alongside EPUB, PDF, and plain-text files. Being Go-native, it runs as a lightweight binary with minimal memory footprint, making it ideal for home servers and low-resource environments.

Compared to ComiXology/Kindle Comics, Kumiho runs entirely on your own hardware — no subscriptions, no DRM, no cloud dependency. You own the files and control access. Deploy it via Docker for the easiest setup.