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Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Cobalt, an SDK to build apps for Kobo eReaders

Hey HN, I built an SDK to help me create apps I wanted on my Kobo. My Kobo device has a single core <1GHz processor and 512MB RAM, much less than a Raspberry Pi, but the eInk display and larger battery life opens up a lot of use cases. I have since used it to build an approval sidekick for my Mac's Claude code and codex, a Hacker News Client for Kobo, a Gutenberg reader, an RSS search and reader and more. All the code is in the repo. If you have a different device than mine (Clara BW) would love for you to test it on your device and submit a PR to enable this for more device profiles. Thanks.

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Prices are shown for the 2 we have checked on their own sites, 2 of them free or with a free tier.

  1. 1
    Cobalt▲91

    Your Kobo can run apps now

    Aug 2026 · bandarlabs.github.io · its alternatives →

  2. 2
    Kilo Code for iOS and Androidfree tier, from $15/mo▲498

    Start coding agents, control sessions, review PRs. Anywhere.

    Sep 2026 · kilo.ai · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    Kindle Comic Converter optimizes comics and manga for eink readers like Kindle, Kobo, ReMarkable, and more. Pages display in fullscreen without margins, with proper fixed layout support. Its main feature is various optional image processing steps to look good on eink screens, which have different requirements than normal LCD screens. It also does filesize optimization by downscaling to your specific device's screen resolution, which can improve performance on underpowered ereaders. Supported input formats include folders&#x2F;CBZ&#x2F;CBR&#x2F;PDF of JPG&#x2F;PNG files and more. Supported…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4
    Epho▲156

    Hey folks, Burak here. Epho is an API that allows running Claude Code, Codex or Opencode in a sandbox in the cloud. It abstracts away sandboxes, and allows running coding agents with a single HTTP request. Epho came out of our own struggles with building our own AI analyst: - Sandboxes give you bare machines; you need to configure them for agentic workloads. - Each agent behaves differently, and you need to build integrations with each of them. - Sandbox providers are not very reliable, which means you need to figure out a multi-provider strategy to avoid failures. - Logging, artifacts,…

    Aug 2026 · epho.io · its alternatives →

  5. 5
    Kodika.io▲172

    Build powerful iOS apps on your iPad with no code.

    2019 · kodika.io · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    Steps to get emacs running on a Kobo Clara BW. Contribute to enthdegree/kobo-emacs development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    Hi HN! We’re Yann, Edouard, and Bastien from Koyeb (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.koyeb.com&#x2F;). We’re building a platform to let you deploy full-stack apps on high-performance hardware around the world, with zero configuration. We provide a “global serverless feeling”, without the hassle of re-writing all your apps or managing k8s complexity [1]. We built Scaleway, a cloud service provider where we designed ARM servers and provided them as cloud servers. During our time there, we saw customers struggle with the same issues while trying to deploy full-stack applications and APIs resiliently. As…

    2023 · koyeb.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    A crowd-sourced list of Android apps optimized for ChromeOS

    2018 · its alternatives →

  9. 9
    Sprout▲109

    A kanban board that feels at home on your Mac

    Dec 2025 · sproutformac.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    A dead simple editor. Contribute to hellerve/e development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11BA
  12. 12

    NDBC alerts for kooks with an iOS device

    2019 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    I've never posted on ShowHN before, but I wanted to share my Xmas 2025 project; to try a new approach to controlling our kids screen time. This also involved massively over-engineering a solution in order to play with a shiny new gadget (and avoid the in laws at Christmas, obviously) I've shared some learnings on AI coding with embedded devices, and how I approached the product design&#x2F;hardware selection side of things. The Web App is at https:&#x2F;&#x2F;screenie.org - and I'm Open Sourcing the device and web app code later today (links to follow on that site)

    Jan 2026 · partridge.works · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    Deploy intensive applications across GPUs, CPUs, and Accelerators in minutes - scale in 50+ locations.

    2020 · koyeb.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15IB

    You know that old TI calculator you used in high school, then put in a box and forgot about? Have you ever wished you had an operating system for your calculator with preemptive multitasking, dynamic memory management, a tree filesystem conforming to the FHS, and all the comforts of Unix? Well, good news: that's totally a thing that exists. I've been working on my kernel for about three and a half years now and I'm looking for new contributors to help out. It's written entirely in z80 assembly, and it's both challenging and fun to work on. There's an IRC channel for contributors or people…

    2014 · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    I've going through a backlog of projects and checking them off with Claude Code. What started out as a quick afternoon of coding with claude has relight my love of making.

    May 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17
    Kodo▲7

    Code, SSH and run local AI — right from your iPhone

    Jul 2026 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  18. 18HC
  19. 19MA

    Hey HN community, I'm Sebastian, a Product Manager&#x2F;Designer&#x2F;Maker. I'd like for anyone with an idea to build and validate something quickly. I got into the #nocode thing earlier last year and wanted to see what's possible with the tools out there today. Over the last few months, I spent a lot of late nights and weekends on my side project. I'm very proud to present the result today. Meet Memoly (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;memoly.app). It's built entirely without code. To achieve my goal, I used this tech stack: Adalo, Zapier, Airtable, and Carrd. Memoly is available for iOS and Android. I…

    2020 · its alternatives →

  20. 20
    Kobuddy▲14

    Kobuddy delivers your favorite web content directly to your Kobo e-reader for distraction-free reading.

    2025 · kobuddy.app · its alternatives →

  21. 21
    Skeezo▲10

    The agent-native macOS IDE that drives your installed Claude Code — parallel agent lanes, team chat, multi-repo workspaces, and automation. No API key.

    Sep 2026 · skeezo.dev · its alternatives →

  22. 22RM

    Hey everyone, I have spend some of my free time of the last year and a half working on a cool project: Readbo ( http://readbo.com ). I loved using Google Reader, but I always thought it wasn't being updated quickly enough, and wanted some new features. So I decided to create something that would be better than Google Reader and at the same time make Google Reader users happy. Readbo is an RSS reader, but it also has filters to filter out what you don't want to see. You can also aggregate Twitter and Facebook. I personally love this feature. Even if you don't use RSS reader's, having Facebook…

    2012 · readbo.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    I'm calling this "Vibe Discovery" — distinct from vibe coding because I didn't know the requirements upfront. Started with "make something with the accelerometer" and discovered through 6 iterations that I wanted a WebGL marble game. The interesting part was the dev setup: Claude Code running in Termux on a Redmi Note 9 (4GB RAM). The same-device feedback loop — code, test accelerometer, react, iterate — made rapid discovery possible in a way that laptop-to-phone deployment wouldn't.

    Jan 2026 · kikkupico.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    Hi HN, I’ve spent the last decade building hardware products like humanoid robots, 3D printers, and self-driving tractors. I needed a tool to navigate technical documents faster, so I created one with friends. This tool helps with component search, cross-referencing, comparison, and debugging. We’d love your feedback, whether you find it useful or not. Thank you! Try it here: www.convergelab.ai

    2024 · convergelab.ai · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →