# bookwyrm vs polar

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | bookwyrm | polar |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58/100 | 71/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #26 of 69 in Social Networks & Forums | #1 of 13 in Billing |
| GitHub stars | 2 808 | 10 436 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | +22 | +157 ✓ |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 12 ✓ | 1 |
| Latest release | v0.9.4 · 29 Oct 2026 ✓ | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced ✓ | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | No | No |
| License | Other | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Python | Python |

## Which one should you pick?

polar scores 71/100 against 58/100 for bookwyrm, so it is the safer default.

bookwyrm ships more often: 12 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.

polar is growing faster right now (+157 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [bookwyrm](https://selfhost.directory/project/bookwyrm) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/bookwyrm.md)
- [polar](https://selfhost.directory/project/polar) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/polar.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/bookwyrm-vs-polar