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Kotobee
Interactive EPUB authoring that also exports native mobile apps and hosted libraries
As of 31 August 2026, Kotobee is free to use. An Egyptian authoring tool for interactive ebooks with video, 3D objects and quizzes, which can export the same book as an EPUB, a web app, a desktop app or a native iOS and Android application. Softwr lists it under Publishing. Kotobee is available on Windows, macOS, Web, iOS.
Overview
What Kotobee does
Kotobee Author produces interactive ebooks built on EPUB 3, with embedded video and audio, 3D models, question banks, self-assessment quizzes, book-in-book embedding and interactive widgets. The same project exports as a standard EPUB, a web application, a Windows or macOS desktop application, or a native iOS and Android app. Kotobee Cloud and Kotobee Library provide hosting, user management and DRM controls for organisations that want to deliver books to a known population rather than sell them publicly. The export to a native mobile app is the capability that decides purchases. For an education publisher, a training department or a ministry curriculum programme, the distribution channel is often a branded app that learners install, not a retailer listing, and building that app conventionally means commissioning developers. Kotobee turns the book into the app. That matters most in markets where the education sector distributes directly to institutions and where regional retail ebook channels are weak, which is where the company has built its business. The corresponding limit is that interactivity does not survive mainstream retail. Kindle in particular will not render the widgets, video and interactive assessments that justify using Kotobee at all, so a book built this way is designed for a controlled channel and degrades badly if you later decide to sell it through ordinary retailers. There is also no print workflow: this is a screen-first tool, and anyone needing a paperback interior needs different software. Publishing native apps means holding Apple and Google developer accounts and passing store review yourself, which is a recurring administrative burden the software does not remove.
What people use it 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
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Kotobee
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- KotobeevsCalibre
Calibre: For plain ebook conversion and library management when the interactive features are not needed
Pricing
What Kotobee costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Kotobee Author
On request
- A free tier with limited export options
- Paid licence tiers unlock app export and advanced widgets
- Kotobee Cloud hosting and DRM billed separately
- Enterprise and institutional licensing quoted individually
Capabilities
Features
Interactive EPUB 3
Video, audio, 3D models, widgets and embedded books inside a standards-based ebook
Quizzes and question banks
Self-assessment and graded questions built into the book content
Native app export
Publishes the same book as an iOS or Android application, or a desktop application
Kotobee Cloud
Hosted delivery with user accounts, access control and usage tracking
DRM and access control
Restricts who can open a book and on how many devices
Kotobee Reader
A reader application for distributing protected books to a known audience
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
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.
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.
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.
Keep looking
Where to go from Kotobee
- Kotobee alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Kotobee pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Kotobee badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Publishing softwareThe full category
- Best Publishing softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Publishing software for
Compare Kotobee with
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- Calibre
- Pressbooks
- Affinity Publisher
- Kobo
- Moon Reader
- Reedsy
- Lulu
- IngramSpark
- Scribus
- Atticus
- PublishDrive
- QuarkXPress
- Wattpad
- Webtoon
- BookBaby
- Goodreads
- PublishDrive
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Free plan9 researched notesPay-per-book self-publishing service for ebook conversion, print on demand and distribution
11 researched notesEbook distribution aggregator that moved from a royalty-share model to flat-fee subscription pricing, so authors now keep 100% of the store royalty rather than splitting it with the platform
Free plan11 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Kotobee, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Kotobee
Kotobee alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Kotobee pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
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