Baca-Quran.id: A No-Tracking Quran Reader You Can Self-Host

What Baca-Quran.id Actually Delivers

Baca-Quran.id is a web application for reading the Qur'an in a browser. The README is blunt about its selling points: no ads, no analytics, and free. It is not a mobile app or a desktop program. It is a static website you can run locally or deploy to any hosting that serves plain files. The target user is someone who wants a clean, fast Quran reading experience without the clutter of commercial Quran sites or the tracking that often comes with them. The content is clearly oriented toward Indonesian readers: the credits list Indonesian sources for Asmaul Husna, daily prayers, and Tahlil, and the prayer schedule API is from Aladhan, which supports global locations but is commonly used in Indonesian contexts. If you are outside that linguistic and cultural frame, parts of the app will feel less relevant.

How the Project Is Built and What Runs Under the Hood

The primary language is TypeScript, and the README shows a build step with pnpm and a deployment that copies a build folder. That pattern matches a static site generator, likely Astro, though the README does not name it. The project pulls Quran text from the quran-json repository by rioastamal, which provides the Arabic text and translations in JSON format. Audio comes from kemenag.go.id, the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs. Prayer schedules are fetched from api.aladhan.com, and reverse geolocation uses Nominatim from OpenStreetMap. That means the site is not fully self-contained. It depends on external APIs for prayer times and location detection. The static build itself is just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, so it can be served from any static host, including GitHub Pages or a simple nginx server. The README gives no details on internal architecture, state management, or component structure, so a developer looking to extend it will need to read the source code directly.

Getting It Running: Commands and Requirements

The README lists two hard requirements: Node v20 and pnpm v9. It suggests using nvm to manage the Node version. Installation is a single command: pnpm i. Running locally is pnpm run dev. For production, you run pnpm run build and then copy the build folder to your hosting. There is no mention of environment variables, API keys, or configuration files. That is a relief for a quick start, but it also means you cannot easily switch the Quran JSON source or the prayer API without editing code. The build output is static, so there is no server-side rendering at runtime. This is a straightforward setup for anyone familiar with Node and pnpm. The lack of a Dockerfile or deployment scripts means you handle hosting yourself, which is fine for a static site but adds friction if you expected a one-click deploy.

What the Site Offers Beyond the Quran Text

The README mentions several features beyond the core text. There is a blog and a stories section, both hosted on subdomains of baca-quran.id but maintained in separate repositories. The main app includes Asmaul Husna, the 99 names of Allah, daily prayers (do'a) sourced from Hisnul Muslim and other references, MP3 audio recitation from the Indonesian government, and Tahlil, a specific set of prayers. There is also a prayer schedule feature that uses Aladhan's API and Nominatim for location. This is a richer package than a bare Quran reader. For an Indonesian Muslim user, this could replace several separate apps. For a non-Indonesian user, the daily prayers and Tahlil may be unfamiliar, and the audio is likely in an Indonesian reciter's voice, which may not be what you want. The feature set is a deliberate cultural choice, not a universal one.

Privacy and Self-Hosting as the Core Value

The README's promise is explicit: no ads, no analytics. That is a strong privacy statement, but it is not a technical guarantee. The site depends on external APIs for prayer times and geolocation. Nominatim, for instance, is a public service that logs requests. If you self-host, you control what data goes to those APIs, but you cannot avoid sending your IP and coordinates to them if you use the prayer schedule feature. The static build itself has no analytics scripts, so as long as you do not add any, the promise holds. This makes Baca-Quran.id a good choice for someone who wants a private Quran reading experience without relying on a commercial service. However, the privacy claim is only as strong as the external services you choose to use. If you disable the prayer schedule and geolocation, you get a fully offline, no-request site. That is a real advantage over many Quran apps that phone home.

Limitations and Cases Where It Is the Wrong Tool

The most obvious limitation is the lack of recent releases. The README shows no release history, and the last push date is unknown. That suggests the project may not be actively maintained. For a religious text, accuracy is critical, and a stale Quran JSON source could contain errors. The README credits quran-json, but it does not specify the version or how often it is updated. If you need a Quran app with regular updates, scholarly notes, or multiple translations, this is not it. The site is also Indonesian-centric, so if you need English tafsir or Urdu translation, you will be disappointed. Another failure mode: the audio files from kemenag.go.id are not self-hosted. If that government site goes down or changes its URLs, audio breaks. The same applies to Aladhan and Nominatim. For a critical deployment, you would need to vendor those assets and APIs, which is not documented. This is a hobbyist-grade project, not an enterprise tool.

Alternatives and How They Differ

A common alternative is Quran.com, which offers a full-featured web app with multiple translations, tafsir, and audio. Quran.com is not open source in the same way, and it likely uses analytics. The approach is different: Quran.com is a centralized service, while Baca-Quran.id is a static site you can fork and host yourself. Another alternative is the Tanzil project, which provides Quran text in multiple formats and is widely used as a data source. Tanzil is a data provider, not a ready-to-use app. If you want to build your own Quran reader, Tanzil gives you the text, but you have to build the UI. Baca-Quran.id gives you a complete UI but with less flexibility. A third option is to use the quran-json package directly and build a custom app. That gives you full control but requires more work. The key difference is that Baca-Quran.id is a finished product, while the alternatives are either services or building blocks.

Maintenance, Licensing, and What to Verify Before You Adopt

The project is licensed under MIT, which is permissive and allows commercial use, modification, and redistribution, provided you keep the copyright notice. The README credits many external sources, but it does not clarify the licensing of the Quran text, audio, or prayer data. The Quran text itself is generally not copyrightable, but translations and audio recordings are. The MP3 files from kemenag.go.id may have their own terms. You should check the license of quran-json and the audio files before redistributing them. The README shows a copyright line for Irfan Maulana, the author, but the project has no recent releases, which raises questions about maintenance. There is no issue tracker link or contribution guide in the README. If you adopt this, you are taking on the responsibility of updating the data and fixing bugs yourself. The build process is simple, but the content is not. For a production religious site, you would want to verify the accuracy of the Quran text and the reliability of the audio source. The project is a good starting point, but it is not a turnkey solution.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt Baca-Quran.id if you want a free, privacy-respecting Quran reading site with Indonesian-language content, audio from Indonesian government sources, and a simple static build you can host yourself. Do not adopt it if you need Arabic-only text, deep scholarly tafsir, or a project with active release notes. Before deploying, verify the Quran JSON source for accuracy, check the licensing of the MP3 audio from kemenag.go.id, and confirm that the external APIs (Aladhan, Nominatim) meet your privacy expectations. The project is a solid personal or community tool, but its maintenance is irregular and its content is region-specific.

Official sources

1. Official documentation
2. Official README
3. Project repository