Jinbocho vs Libib vs Skoolib¶

Libib and Skoolib are both solid, purpose-built cataloging apps — this isn't a "they're bad, we're good" page. They're cloud services built to work well out of the box for a wide range of collection sizes, including small institutions. Jinbocho solves a narrower problem — a single home library, self-hosted — and trades their convenience for full data ownership and no per-item ceilings.

How they compare¶

	Libib	Skoolib	Jinbocho
Hosting	Cloud only	Cloud only	Self-hosted
Free tier	5,000 items	500 books	No item limit (your own database)
Physical shelf/room mapping	❌	Virtual bookshelf (single level)	✅ Four levels (Room → Bookcase → Section → Shelf)
Multi-user on the free tier	❌ (paid add-on)	✅	✅
ISBN barcode scanning	✅	✅	✅
Source-available / inspectable code	❌	❌	✅

Feature sets and pricing change — this table reflects what was publicly documented on Libib's and Skoolib's own sites at the time of writing. Check their current plans before deciding.

Libib — best for multi-collection cataloging¶

Libib is built to catalog more than books (board games, movies, music, video games too) across up to 100 collections, with a generous 5,000-item free tier. It's a good fit if you want a polished, zero-maintenance cloud tool and don't need to know which physical shelf something is on. Its multi-user features are aimed at organizations — paid Pro and Ultimate plans, not free family sharing.

Skoolib — best for small institutional libraries¶

Skoolib grew out of a school library tool, and it shows in the feature set: patron lending, circulation stats, and multi-user roles built for a librarian managing patrons, not a household sharing a bookcase. Its 500-book free tier and virtual bookshelf view make it usable for a home library, but the product is optimized for a different job.

Jinbocho — best for a self-hosted family library¶

Jinbocho doesn't compete on collection breadth or institutional features. It does one thing: map your actual rooms, bookcases, sections, and shelves, run on infrastructure you control, with no account to lock you in and no item count that triggers a paywall. If your family wants to share one physical library and you're comfortable running a Docker container, that's the trade Jinbocho is built around.

Try it in one command¶

git clone https://github.com/jinbocho/jinbocho-infrastructure-community-v1.git
cd jinbocho-infrastructure-community-v1
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.community.yml up -d

(Copy the example env files first — see the Developer Manual for the full setup.)

Or try the live demo first.