Is Kotobee or Sigil better?

Neither clearly leads. Kotobee starts at Free and Sigil at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Kotobee or Sigil?

Kotobee starts at Free and Sigil at Free.

Does Kotobee or Sigil run on more platforms?

Kotobee runs on Windows, macOS, Web, iOS, Android. Sigil runs on Windows, macOS, Linux.

Can I use Kotobee for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Kotobee best used for?

Kotobee is most often used for an education publisher whose distribution channel is a branded app installed by schools rather than a retail ebook store, a training department delivering interactive course material with embedded assessment to a known set of employees, a publisher in a market where regional retail ebook channels are weak and direct institutional sales dominate, an organisation that needs access control and device limits on material it cannot distribute openly. Of those, an education publisher whose distribution channel is a branded app installed by schools rather than a retail ebook store and a training department delivering interactive course material with embedded assessment to a known set of employees are not what Sigil is typically brought in for.

What can Kotobee do that Sigil cannot?

Kotobee covers Interactive EPUB 3, Quizzes and question banks, Native app export, Kotobee Cloud. Sigil covers Direct EPUB editing, Code and preview views, EPUB 2 and EPUB 3, Regex across files.

Publishing · head to head

Kotobee vs Sigil

Kotobee

Publishing

Interactive EPUB authoring that also exports native mobile apps and hosted libraries

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Sigil

Publishing

Open source EPUB editor for working directly on the file, not generating it

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Kotobee interactive EPUB 3 features degrade or disappear in mainstream retail readers, Kindle in particular, so a book built around widgets and quizzes cannot simply be resold through ordinary retail channels later.; Sigil it produces no print output whatever, so any book that needs a paperback interior requires a completely separate tool and a second workflow.
They diverge on capability: Kotobee covers Interactive EPUB 3, Sigil covers Direct EPUB editing.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kotobee and Sigil actually diverge.

Attributes where Kotobee and Sigil differ
Attribute	Kotobee	Sigil
Pricing model	Per licence per year	Open source, no licence fee
Platforms	Windows, macOS, Web, iOS, Android	Windows, macOS, Linux

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Publishing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Kotobee

Interactive EPUB 3
Quizzes and question banks
Native app export
Kotobee Cloud
DRM and access control
Kotobee Reader

Only in Sigil

Direct EPUB editing
Code and preview views
EPUB 2 and EPUB 3
Regex across files
Validation
Python plugins

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Kotobee

An education publisher whose distribution channel is a branded app installed by schools rather than a retail ebook storenot Sigil
A training department delivering interactive course material with embedded assessment to a known set of employeesnot Sigil
A publisher in a market where regional retail ebook channels are weak and direct institutional sales dominatenot Sigil
An organisation that needs access control and device limits on material it cannot distribute openlynot Sigil

Sigil

Fixing an EPUB that a retailer validator has rejected, without re-exporting from the tool that generated itnot Kotobee
Correcting the table of contents, reading order or metadata in a file supplied by a conversion servicenot Kotobee
Preparing a back-catalogue title where the only surviving source is the EPUB itselfnot Kotobee
Applying a consistent stylesheet or a bulk text correction across every chapter of a book at oncenot Kotobee

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Kotobee

Interactive EPUB 3 features degrade or disappear in mainstream retail readers, Kindle in particular, so a book built around widgets and quizzes cannot simply be resold through ordinary retail channels later.
Exporting a native app does not remove the app store obligations: you need Apple and Google developer accounts, you handle review submissions, and you own every rejection and update cycle.
There is no print workflow at all, so a title that also needs a paperback edition requires a separate layout tool and a duplicated production process.
It is a small vendor with a limited partner and integration ecosystem, which is a genuine concern for an institution embedding it in a multi-year curriculum programme.
Cloud hosting, DRM and user management are priced separately from the authoring licence, so the recurring cost of delivery, rather than the software purchase, is what the budget has to carry.

Sigil

It produces no print output whatever, so any book that needs a paperback interior requires a completely separate tool and a second workflow.
Meaningful use requires reading and writing HTML and CSS, which puts it out of reach of most authors who simply want a finished file.
There is no cloud storage, sync or collaboration, so the book exists as a file on one machine and version control is whatever you set up yourself.
Development depends on a small number of volunteer maintainers, so release timing and platform builds follow their availability rather than a roadmap, and a lapse in maintenance would leave no obvious successor.
It provides no distribution, no retailer connection and no Kindle-native output, so it sits in the middle of a workflow that other tools have to complete on both sides.

Pricing, plan by plan

Kotobee

Free

Kotobee Author$undefined/year
- A free tier with limited export options
- Paid licence tiers unlock app export and advanced widgets
- Kotobee Cloud hosting and DRM billed separately

Sigil

Free

SigilFree
- GPL licensed with no cost or account required
- Full functionality with no feature gating
- Community support through forums and the issue tracker

Which should you pick?

Choose Kotobee if

You need interactive epub 3.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Windows, macOS, Web, iOS, Android.
You also want quizzes and question banks.

Kotobee review

Choose Sigil if

You need direct epub editing.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Windows, macOS, Linux.
You also want code and preview views.

Sigil review

Questions people ask

Is Kotobee or Sigil better?: Neither clearly leads. Kotobee starts at Free and Sigil at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kotobee or Sigil?: Kotobee starts at Free and Sigil at Free.
Does Kotobee or Sigil run on more platforms?: Kotobee runs on Windows, macOS, Web, iOS, Android. Sigil runs on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Can I use Kotobee for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Kotobee best used for?: Kotobee is most often used for an education publisher whose distribution channel is a branded app installed by schools rather than a retail ebook store, a training department delivering interactive course material with embedded assessment to a known set of employees, a publisher in a market where regional retail ebook channels are weak and direct institutional sales dominate, an organisation that needs access control and device limits on material it cannot distribute openly. Of those, an education publisher whose distribution channel is a branded app installed by schools rather than a retail ebook store and a training department delivering interactive course material with embedded assessment to a known set of employees are not what Sigil is typically brought in for.
What can Kotobee do that Sigil cannot?: Kotobee covers Interactive EPUB 3, Quizzes and question banks, Native app export, Kotobee Cloud. Sigil covers Direct EPUB editing, Code and preview views, EPUB 2 and EPUB 3, Regex across files.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kotobee: Can I sell a Kotobee book on Amazon?

You can sell a stripped-down EPUB, but the interactive content that justified the tool will not render. Treat retail as a separate, simpler edition.

Sigil: Can I write my book in Sigil?

You can, but you should not. It is an EPUB editor, not a word processor, and writing long-form prose in it is unpleasant. Write elsewhere, import, then finish in Sigil.

Kotobee: Does Kotobee publish the app to the stores for me?

No. It generates the application; you supply the developer accounts and go through Apple and Google review yourself, including every subsequent update.

Sigil: Does it make Kindle files?

Not natively. Produce a valid EPUB in Sigil and let Amazon convert it, or use a separate conversion tool for other Kindle formats.

Kotobee: Is it suitable for a trade fiction publisher?

No. It is built for education, training and reference material where interactivity and controlled access are the point.

Sigil: Is it safe to rely on a volunteer project for commercial work?

The files it produces are standard EPUB, so nothing is locked in. The risk is that maintenance stops, not that your books become unreadable.

Kotobee vs Sigil

Kotobee

Sigil

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Kotobee

Only in Sigil

What people use each for

Kotobee

Sigil

Where each one falls short

Kotobee

Sigil

Pricing, plan by plan

Kotobee

Sigil

Which should you pick?

Choose Kotobee if

Choose Sigil if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Kotobee

More on Sigil

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