Audiobookshelf without running a server

Audiobookshelf is the best self-hosted audiobook server there is. The catch is in the name. It is a server, and somebody has to run it. This page is for everyone who wants the same outcome, their own audiobook files organized and playable on every device, without a machine to maintain.

What self-hosting actually asks of you

Audiobookshelf is free and open source, GPL-3.0, and genuinely good software. The cost is not money, it is operations. A setup that works reliably usually means all of this:

• A computer that stays on. A NAS, a mini PC, a Raspberry Pi, or a VPS you rent. When it sleeps or reboots into a bad state, your library is offline.
• An install to maintain. Docker Compose is the documented path, with volumes for config, metadata, and your media. Native Linux and Windows installs exist too. Either way, updates and permissions are your job.
• A folder layout the scanner understands, plus metadata matching for anything your files do not already describe well.
• A way to reach it from outside the house. Progress sync for the mobile apps needs a real connection, which in practice means an HTTPS reverse proxy that also forwards WebSocket upgrades, or a tunnel such as Tailscale or Cloudflare Tunnel.
• Backups. The server holds your library and your listening history, so it needs a backup plan like anything else you would hate to lose.

None of this is hard for people who enjoy it, and plenty of us do. But it is a hobby with a maintenance bill attached, which is why "what do I use if I do not want to run a server?" keeps getting asked.

When to keep Audiobookshelf

Honestly: often. If any of these matter to you, self-hosting is still the right answer and no app is going to beat it.

• You want the files to live on hardware you control, and nothing else will do.
• You need multiple users with their own permissions and their own listening progress.
• You keep podcasts or ebooks in the same library.
• You want open source you can read, fork, and keep running forever with no company in the middle.
• You already have a server up, and it is not bothering you.

Liberra is not trying to replace that. It is for the other group, the people whose answer to "so you just need to spin up Docker" is no.

What the no-server version looks like

Liberra is a player first. It reads the audiobook files you already own, on the device in your hand, with no account and no setup:

1. Install the app and import your files. Point it at files or a folder. It reads the embedded metadata, fetches cover art, groups books that are split across many tracks, and shows you what it found before anything is added. MP3, M4A, M4B, AAC, FLAC, and OGG all work. Hand it a zip and it unpacks it for you.
2. Play. Chapters, multi-part sets, variable speed, bookmarks, sleep timer, collections, casting. If you stop here, you have paid nothing and your books simply live on your device.
3. Turn on sync when you want it everywhere. Sign in and your library, your place in each book, and your bookmarks follow you between devices. For the audio files themselves you pick who holds them: connect your own Dropbox, or let Liberra host them on a cloud plan.

There is no server, no reverse proxy, no port to forward, no certificate to renew, and nothing to update at 1am because the container stopped.

Side by side

What Liberra does not do

Written plainly, because finding this out after you move a library is worse than reading it now:

• It is not self-hosted and not open source. If that is the requirement, stay with Audiobookshelf.
• No podcasts and no ebooks. Audiobooks only.
• One library per account. No per-user permissions, no family accounts with separate progress.
• It cannot mount a NAS or SMB share. Your sources today are files on the device, a connected Dropbox, or Liberra-hosted storage.
• Hosted storage is the paid part. The player and bring-your-own storage are free. Letting us hold the files is a subscription, because the bytes cost us money every month.
• It does not break DRM. Audible's protected files are not audiobooks you own in any practical sense, and Liberra will not play them.

Moving a library across

A library that Audiobookshelf likes is already a library Liberra likes, because both want one folder per book with the audio inside. Two routes:

• Bring your own storage. Copy the book folders into your Dropbox, connect Dropbox in Liberra, and point it at the folder. The files stay yours and stay where you put them.
• Let Liberra host them. Pick a plan sized to the library, upload, and every device pulls from there.

Chapters embedded in M4B files come across with the file. Books split into dozens of MP3s are grouped into one book, and the import screen lets you confirm or combine the groups before you finish. What does not come across is your listening history: Liberra reads your files, not another server's database, so you set your place once in whatever you are part-way through.

Questions

Can I run both?

Yes, and it is a reasonable way to try this. Keep the server as your archive and put a copy of what you are actually listening to in Liberra. Nothing in Liberra touches or needs your server.

Do I have to pay to sync between devices?

You need an account for sync, and you need the files to be somewhere both devices can reach. If that somewhere is your own Dropbox, you are not paying us for storage. If you would rather not manage it, a cloud plan starts at $5 a month.

What happens if I cancel?

You download your files. They are the same files you brought, with no DRM and no conversion, so they keep working in any player, including Audiobookshelf.

Is this just Audiobookshelf hosted for me?

No. It is a different product with a different shape: a polished player on your phone with optional sync, rather than a server with clients. If what you want is literally Audiobookshelf without the admin work, the honest answer is to rent a small VPS and run it there.

Related guide: How to listen to your Libro.fm and Downpour audiobooks on any device