react-pageflip and flipbook-viewer are the two natural picks when you want an open-source flipbook inside a modern web app. They cover similar ground but at different abstraction levels — one wraps the engine, the other wraps the engine plus a full PDF rendering pipeline.
At a glance
| Criterion | react-pageflip | flipbook-viewer |
|---|---|---|
| Includes PDF.js | No | Yes |
| Bundle size | ~30KB | ~600KB+ (PDF.js) |
| React API | Native | Web component |
| TypeScript | Yes | Yes |
| Includes toolbar | No | Yes |
| Touch gestures | Manual setup | Built-in |
| Best for | Image arrays | PDF URL |
react-pageflip — the short version
react-pageflip is the lower-level option — bring your own page images, get a tiny bundle and a clean React API.
flipbook-viewer — the short version
flipbook-viewer is the higher-level option — point it at a PDF URL and get the full reader experience including toolbar and touch gestures.
Which one should you pick?
Pick react-pageflip if you have already rendered PDF pages or if your flipbook content is not PDF-based. Pick flipbook-viewer if you want a self-hosted alternative to Issuu or FlipHTML5 with the smallest possible engineering effort.
If neither fits
StPageFlip is the underlying engine for react-pageflip; turn.js is the legacy alternative for both. Browse the full tool library for twelve hosted platforms and open-source libraries reviewed side-by-side.