FreeKiosk vs Kiosk
FreeKiosk
freekiosk.appKiosk
github.comSide by side
| Figure | FreeKiosk | Kiosk |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | €0.80/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 2 |
| Spec score · Kiosk Browsers | 8.5 (#3) | 8.9 (#1) |
| Integrations | The app supports native MQTT with Home Assistant auto-discovery. | The desktop apps support opening PDFs directly and associating Kiosk with PDF files; the extension can intercept PDFs opened in Chrome. |
| Support | Product support is available at [email protected], and the documentation directs users to the FAQ or GitHub Issues for help. | The Linux release directs users to report bugs by opening a GitHub issue. |
Plans
FreeKiosk
- FreeKiosk Android appFree
- FreeKiosk Cloud — first deviceFree
- FreeKiosk Cloud — 100–499 devices€0.80 a month
- FreeKiosk Cloud — 1–99 devices€1 a month
- FreeKiosk Cloud — 500+ devicesPriced on request
In their own words
FreeKiosk
FreeKiosk turns Android tablets into fullscreen kiosks for websites, web apps and external Android apps. In Device Owner mode, it can hide system controls and prevent users from leaving the kiosk. Video playback and image slideshows support digital signage, while URL Rotation & Planner can cycle through pages or schedule them for particular dates and times. For automation, FreeKiosk provides more than 40 REST API endpoints and native MQTT with Home Assistant auto-discovery. Its optional Cloud dashboard adds live device monitoring, remote commands, groups, configuration profiles, alerts and screenshots. The first Cloud device is free forever with no card required. Rates for 1–99 devices are €1.00 per device per month, and for 100–499 devices €0.80 per device per month; the first device is free in either range. The 500-plus rate is described as below the 499-device rate. The Android app is free and open source under the MIT license, while Cloud source code is not published. FreeKiosk requires Android 8.0 or later; Device Owner setup requires ADB and a factory-reset device.
Kiosk
Kiosk is a free, open-source PDF reader for web, desktop, mobile, and browser extensions. It renders PDFs and offers full-text search with highlighted results, page thumbnails, zoom, and light, dark, and night display modes. Its Chrome extension adds highlighting, underlining, strikethrough, drawing, shapes, and text annotations. The project says PDFs stay on the device, with no telemetry, cloud processing, or account requirement. Android works offline after installation, and the extension release notes also state that offline use is supported. The web app can run locally or be deployed through GitHub Pages as a self-hosted instance. Desktop apps can open PDFs directly and associate Kiosk with PDF files; the extension can intercept PDFs opened in Chrome. The extension supports Chrome 88+, Edge 88+, and Brave, but not Firefox or Safari. The project is released under the MIT License. Its Android release is an early alpha, and the macOS app is ad-hoc signed but not notarized, so Gatekeeper may warn on first launch.