Koha is the world's first open-source library system, used by thousands of libraries worldwide. See its features, hosting costs, and how it compares to…
Koha is a free, open-source integrated library system created in 1999 by Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, with its first live installation going into production in January 2000. Widely credited as the first open-source ILS in the world, its name means gift in Maori, reflecting the decision to release it as open source.
Today Koha is used by more than 4,700 libraries across over 6,600 facilities in more than 100 countries, spanning public, academic, school, and special libraries, governed by a global volunteer community and released under the GPL.
Koha covers the core operational needs of a library: MARC21 and UNIMARC cataloging, circulation management for checkouts, holds and fines, acquisitions and serials management, and patron account administration, all through a responsive web interface.
A public-facing OPAC lets patrons search the collection, place holds, and manage their own accounts. Multi-branch and consortium support lets groups of libraries share a single installation and let patrons borrow across branches.
Koha carries no licensing fee since it is fully open source, so libraries can self-host it on their own infrastructure for free, requiring in-house technical staff with Perl and MARC expertise.
Alternatively, libraries can contract independent commercial vendors such as ByWater Solutions, PTFS Europe, or BibLibre for managed hosting, migration, and support, with pricing set individually by each vendor rather than by the Koha project itself.
Yes, Koha is free and open-source software with no licensing fees; libraries only pay if they choose a commercial vendor for hosting, migration, or support.
Koha was created in 1999 by Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, with the first installation going live in January 2000.
Koha means gift or donation in the Maori language, reflecting the decision to release the software as open source.
More than 4,700 libraries across over 6,600 facilities in over 100 countries run Koha.
Since Koha is community-developed, support and hosting are offered by third-party companies such as ByWater Solutions, PTFS Europe, and BibLibre, rather than by a single vendor.
Both are free, open-source library systems; Koha dates back to 1999 and has broader overall adoption, while Evergreen originated in 2006 and is especially popular with large library consortia.