Komga
A media server for comics and manga, with OPDS and e-reader sync
Komga organises comics, manga, magazines and ebooks into libraries and series, and serves them through a web reader and standard APIs. It is MIT licensed, written in Kotlin, and works well with third-party reading apps.
Best for when
- you collect digital comics or manga and want them organised by series
- you read in a mobile comic app and want a server it can talk to
- you own a Kobo e-reader and want your library synced to it
Watch out for
- the JVM uses more memory than lighter readers, which matters on a small device
- it is mostly the work of one main developer, so the pace depends on that person
- ebook support is real but secondary, the focus is comics and manga
Built for comic collections
Komga reads CBZ, CBR, PDF and EPUB files, builds series from your folders and lets you edit metadata, collections and reading lists in the browser. It can import metadata embedded in comic archives and keeps per-user read progress.
Its strength is the ecosystem around it. Komga offers an OPDS feed and its own API, and many comic reading apps on Android and iOS connect to it directly. It also supports syncing with Kobo e-readers, which makes it a good fit for people who read on dedicated devices rather than in a browser.
What running it costs
It runs on the Java virtual machine, so memory use starts higher than a small Go or .NET app. Plan for around half a gigabyte to a gigabyte of RAM for a sizeable library. The database is a local file, and backing up the config directory keeps your metadata edits and progress.
Like any reading server, it belongs on a private network or behind a VPN. Upkeep is mostly pulling the new image now and then. Large libraries take time on the first scan, and thumbnails take disk space next to the database.
