The short answer
Kavita leans manga but wants to be the one server for everything you read: its README leads with manga, webtoons and comics and then covers books (EPUB, PDF), with web readers, reading profiles, roles and age restrictions, and EPUB annotations for highlights. It is written in C# on .NET 9.0 with an Angular web interface, under the GPL-3.0 licence.
Komga is built around comics first: it lists comic archives (CBZ, CBR), EPUB and PDF, a webreader, collections and read lists, and sync to Kobo eReaders and KOReader. It is Kotlin on Spring Boot, which means a JVM (or Docker), under the MIT licence.
Neither has stopped moving: Kavita's latest release on GitHub (v0.9.1.4) is dated 2026-09-02, and Komga's (1.28.0) 2026-09-29. Both ship through Docker, so the choice between them comes down to scope and taste, not to which project is alive.
Side by side
Checked 2026-10-01 against each project's own README, wiki or docs; the row links to its source.
Features change with every release, so for anything not in this table, each project's own pages are the final word: the Kavita wiki and the Komga documentation.
Installing either
Both projects lead with Docker, and either one is a single compose file. Kavita's Docker page maps your manga, comics and books folders into the container, mounts a config volume at /kavita/config and publishes port 5000; the same page offers a native binary install if you would rather skip containers. Komga's Docker page mounts /config and /data, publishes port 25600, and suggests running it with a fixed user and group ID so file permissions behave; its docs also warn to keep /config on a local filesystem, not a network share, and to raise the default 1 GB Java memory cap if the logs show an OutOfMemoryException.
Neither needs much hardware. Kavita's wiki says users have run it on a single-core 1 GHz CPU with 256 MB of RAM (with the SSE4.2 caveat above). Komga runs on anything with Java or Docker, including common NAS boxes from QNAP and Synology.
Reading on your phone
Both servers speak OPDS, the open catalog standard for browsing and consuming a server's content from external readers, so any OPDS reader can browse them. Each project also lists apps that go beyond plain OPDS.
Kavita's wiki keeps a list of dedicated third-party clients (Inkita and Kamigura on Android, Kover cross-platform), API-driven readers such as Mihon and CDisplayEx, and plain OPDS clients: Librera and Moon Reader on Android, Chunky, Panels and Yomu on iOS. Komga's docs cover a Mihon extension for Android, Panels on iOS, KOReader, and a tested table of OPDS v1 and v2 readers, each with its catalog URL (/opds/v1.2/catalog or /opds/v2/catalog). One wrinkle from that table: the Chunky reader on iPadOS is listed as not working with Komga 1.4.0 and up.
For Android specifically, both servers also work with Easemic: add the server's OPDS address and the library shows up inside the app as a source you can browse and collect from. Easemic has been tested against both Kavita and Komga servers.
Reading away from home
This part is general self-hosting know-how. It is not an Easemic feature, and we did not test a tunnel setup ourselves; the links below are the ones to follow.
For just yourself and one or two others, Kavita's docs point to a private mesh VPN. Kavita's remote-access page says this plainly: a private VPN tool like Tailscale, no port forwarding, more secure than exposing the server, and recommended when only you or one or two other people need access. You install Tailscale on the machine running the server and on your phone or laptop, and every device gets a stable 100.x.y.z address that works from anywhere; you then open the server at http://tailscale-ip:5000 for Kavita or :25600 for Komga, exactly as you would at home. Komga's own pages do not mention a VPN; a VPN works the same way for it.
For sharing more widely, Komga's docs point to a reverse proxy with HTTPS. Komga's "Expose your server" page recommends Caddy, which generates valid Let's Encrypt certificates automatically, and lists the forwarded headers a proxy must set (X-Forwarded-For, X-Forwarded-Proto, X-Forwarded-Host) with sample Caddy and nginx configs. Kavita's wiki keeps user-submitted configs for Apache2, Caddy, HAProxy, nginx, Nginx Proxy Manager and SWAG, plus a KnownProxies list you must fill in when the proxy runs on another host.
A third, in-between option is Cloudflare Tunnel: a small daemon (cloudflared) on your server makes an outbound-only connection to Cloudflare, so you publish an HTTPS address without opening any inbound port on your home router. With that setup, all traffic to your server travels over Cloudflare's network.
Whichever route you pick: put HTTPS in front before exposing the server (Komga's docs warn about this "especially due to the use of http basic authentication"). Kavita's remote-access page calls a private VPN "more secure than exposing your server to the internet".
Keeping a copy that does not depend on the server
Remote access only works while the server is up: if the machine at home is off, sleeping or unreachable, a tunnel saves nothing. Easemic is not a server and cannot replace Kavita or Komga; it is an Android reader and library that can collect from either one over OPDS and keep what you collect in storage you own (S3-compatible storage, WebDAV, OneDrive or Google Drive). A comic you collected keeps reading when the server at home is down, and the same cloud library opens on a new phone (How do you move a comic library to a new phone without losing anything? covers the move). If your comics live in cloud storage rather than on a home server, our guide to the cheapest S3-compatible storage for a comic library prices that out, and What is WebDAV, and which drives support it? covers the other storage type Easemic reads.
Questions people ask
Is Kavita or Komga better for manga?
Both are built for manga among other media. Kavita’s README leads with manga and webtoons, with a webtoon reader mode, and also reads comics and ebooks; Komga documents comics, mangas, BDs, magazines and eBooks. Both handle manga fine. Kavita also takes 7zip, rar5 and raw-image archives, and its metadata downloads come with the paid Kavita+.
Which is better for Western comics?
Komga documents comic archives (CBZ and CBR), and Kavita serves cbr and cbz among its manga/webtoon/comics formats. Kavita groups comics into collections and reading lists (with CBL import) and adds filtering and smart filters over metadata; Komga covers that ground with its metadata editor and automatic import of embedded metadata.
Can I run both?
Nothing in either project’s documentation stops you, and their default ports do not collide: Kavita listens on 5000, Komga on 25600. Point both at the same folders and see which one you actually use. Easemic reads both at once the same way, as one OPDS source each.
How do I access Kavita or Komga from outside my home network?
Each project documents a different route (checked 2026-10-01). Kavita's remote-access page recommends a private VPN such as Tailscale for just you and one or two others; a VPN works the same way for Komga, Komga's docs just do not mention it. Komga's "Expose your server" page instead recommends a reverse proxy with HTTPS for opening the server outside your local network, and Kavita's wiki keeps user-submitted proxy configs for the same job. We did not test a tunnel setup ourselves.
Do Kavita and Komga support OPDS?
Yes. Kavita supports OPDS and the OPDS-PS page-streaming extension, enabled by default. Komga supports OPDS v1 and v2 and publishes the exact catalog URLs to enter in a reader: /opds/v1.2/catalog and /opds/v2/catalog.
Can I read Kavita or Komga on Android?
Yes. As of 2026-10-01, Kavita’s wiki lists dedicated Android clients such as Inkita and Kamigura, plus general readers like Mihon and CDisplayEx through its API or OPDS. Komga documents a Mihon extension and any OPDS reader for Android. On both, Easemic can also add the server’s OPDS catalog as a source in the app.