FBReader vs Foliate
October 07, 2025 | Author: Maria Lin
FBReader and Foliate are both desktop e-book readers that support popular formats (ePub, mobi, fb2, comics). They enable to read your own books downloaded for free. Both readers allow to customize the reading space: fonts, spacing, margins, background (or enable a dark theme), add bookmarks and notes. Both support syncing books (via plugins or cloud services).
However, FBReader is more cross-platform – it runs on Windows, macOS and Linux and also offers mobile apps for Android and iOS. It also supports more formats and has its own cloud syncing service. The program uses propriety optimized text rendering engine (not WebKit) and has a minimalist interface without unnecessary effects - that is why it runs quickly even on very old computers. FBReader can connect to online libraries and OPDS catalogs to download books. The program is mostly free, but there is a paid version for mobile devices with text-to-speech.
Foliate is a completely free, open-source program developed specifically for GNOME and Linux. It's based on WebKit and renders books as web pages. It has a fairly modern interface which adapts to system themes. It has a built-in dictionary, translator, Wikipedia search and the ability to export notes in Markdown format.
However, FBReader is more cross-platform – it runs on Windows, macOS and Linux and also offers mobile apps for Android and iOS. It also supports more formats and has its own cloud syncing service. The program uses propriety optimized text rendering engine (not WebKit) and has a minimalist interface without unnecessary effects - that is why it runs quickly even on very old computers. FBReader can connect to online libraries and OPDS catalogs to download books. The program is mostly free, but there is a paid version for mobile devices with text-to-speech.
Foliate is a completely free, open-source program developed specifically for GNOME and Linux. It's based on WebKit and renders books as web pages. It has a fairly modern interface which adapts to system themes. It has a built-in dictionary, translator, Wikipedia search and the ability to export notes in Markdown format.
