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Comparison · Collab

BookStack vs Komga

A side-by-side editorial comparison of BookStack and Komga — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Shared themes:self-hosted

BookStack vs Komga: at a glance

FeatureBookStackKomga
SectorCollabCollab
Velocity score5.06.3
Sparks · 30d01
Top themesself-hosted, security-releases, permissions, documentationfrontend-rewrite, beta, self-hosted, ebook-formats
Last editorial update13d ago1d ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is BookStack?

BookStack's release stream is mostly security patches with feature drops in between.

Four of BookStack's last six releases are security releases. The newest closes five separate issues at once: external authentication could match the wrong user where IDs differ only by casing or accents, the login form leaked user existence through timing, exported content could load interactive content over file links, API errors exposed debug detail by default, and the default PDF renderer could probe files on the host. The one feature release, v26.05, added a page contents view in the editor, tag browsing API endpoints, a dedicated revision-viewing permission, in-UI MFA reset and new image and CSP controls.

Read the full BookStack trajectory →

What is Komga?

After two years of quiet fixes, Komga puts a whole new web UI in front of users.

Komga's recent history is almost entirely maintenance — archive-format edge cases, EPUB table-of-contents parsing, Kobo and OPDS compatibility, and a long tail of dependency bumps and translations. Release 1.26.0 breaks that pattern by shipping NextUI, a rewritten web interface, in beta and served alongside the existing one from the same server. The old UI remains the default, and the new one is reached from a sidebar link or a /next path, with a published list of what is still missing.

Read the full Komga trajectory →

BookStack vs Komga: editorial side-by-side

B
BookStack
COLLAB
5.0

BookStack's release stream is mostly security patches with feature drops in between.

◆ Current state

Four of BookStack's last six releases are security releases. The newest closes five separate issues at once: external authentication could match the wrong user where IDs differ only by casing or accents, the login form leaked user existence through timing, exported content could load interactive content over file links, API errors exposed debug detail by default, and the default PDF renderer could probe files on the host. The one feature release, v26.05, added a page contents view in the editor, tag browsing API endpoints, a dedicated revision-viewing permission, in-UI MFA reset and new image and CSP controls.

◆ Where it's heading

Cadence is set by responsible disclosures — a named researcher credited in nearly every patch — and the feature work leans the same way, toward finer permissions and content security controls. For a self-hosted wiki that users routinely expose publicly, hardening is the roadmap, with quarterly feature releases sitting between patch runs.

◆ Prediction

Expect another patch on the 26.05 line next. The permission and CSP work visible in v26.05 is the thread the following minor most plausibly continues, though the entries give no signal on timing.

K
Komga
COLLAB
6.3

After two years of quiet fixes, Komga puts a whole new web UI in front of users.

◆ Current state

Komga's recent history is almost entirely maintenance — archive-format edge cases, EPUB table-of-contents parsing, Kobo and OPDS compatibility, and a long tail of dependency bumps and translations. Release 1.26.0 breaks that pattern by shipping NextUI, a rewritten web interface, in beta and served alongside the existing one from the same server. The old UI remains the default, and the new one is reached from a sidebar link or a /next path, with a published list of what is still missing.

◆ Where it's heading

This is a staged frontend replacement rather than a cutover: two UIs on one web server, a v2 referential API landing in the same release to back the new client, and a hotfix a few hours later for NextUI CSS layers under Tomcat. The backend is simplifying in parallel — RAR5 support moved to plain Java and libarchive was dropped from the Docker image and the tray app, removing a native dependency from the build. Feature work outside the UI stays narrow and format-focused.

◆ Prediction

Expect a run of point releases closing the gaps in NextUI's feature list and hardening the two-UI serving path, with the beta label staying on until parity is reached. A default switch is unlikely before the missing features land.

Alternatives to BookStack and Komga

Other Collab products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either BookStack or Komga.

See all BookStack alternatives → · See all Komga alternatives →

Recent activity from BookStack and Komga

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 1d agoKomgaKomga 1.26.0 ships NextUI, a rewritten web interface, in beta
  2. 2d agoKomgaRelease 1.26.1
  3. 13d agoBookStackSecurity release fixes five issues including auth matching
  4. 1mo agoBookStackURL filtering, redirects and permission checks hardened
  5. 1mo agoKomgaRelease 1.25.0
  6. 2mo agoBookStackAttachment metadata leak and file:// export risk closed
  7. 2mo agoBookStackv26.05 adds page contents view, tag API and revision permissions
  8. 2mo agoBookStackRate limiting added to MFA verification routes
  9. 3mo agoBookStackAttachment permission and webhook URL validation fixes
  10. 3mo agoKomgaRelease 1.24.4
  11. 4mo agoKomgaRelease 1.24.3
  12. 4mo agoKomgaRelease 1.24.2

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between BookStack and Komga?

Both compete on the same themes — self-hosted — within Collab. Komga is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is BookStack better than Komga?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Komga is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Collab products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to BookStack?

Top BookStack alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "BookStack alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/bookstack for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Komga?

Top Komga alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Komga alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/komga for the full list with editorial commentary on each.