Lumina vs PMB · 025.04
PMB is UNIMARC-native, with periodical article indexing and saved-search alert emails that few systems match. Lumina is MARC21 today and trades those niceties for a modern desk, mobile apps and the Koha import.
PMB
What PMB does best
CeCILL licence, PHP and MySQL (from France)
- UNIMARC-native cataloguing
- Periodical article indexing
- DSI: saved-search alert emails
- SRU support, search personalisation forms, a mobile companion
Rough edges, as reviewers describe them
- Narrower regional adoption
Lumina
Where Lumina differs
- A keyboard-first desk with a three-state answer and a reason for every block
- Staff and member mobile apps, and a guard-only gate check
- Events, room booking and a modern public catalogue
- INR fines, Razorpay and UPI, Hindi and English
- A guided report builder and 34 built-in reports
Where Lumina is behind
- A new product (version 0.1.0), not a mature community
- SIP2, Z39.50/SRU, OAI-PMH, NCIP, EDIFACT, RFID and plugins are planned, not built
- Consortium features and UNIMARC are not there yet
Capabilities
| Capability | Lumina | PMB |
|---|---|---|
| MARC21 cataloguing | Strong or native | Partial, add-on or early |
| UNIMARCPlanned in Lumina. | Absent or weak | Strong or native |
| Consortium and union catalogueLumina has library groups; shared catalogue and inherited policy are later work. | Partial, add-on or early | Absent or weak |
| Title-level holds on any copy | Strong or native | Partial, add-on or early |
| Metarecord (any edition) holds | Absent or weak | Absent or weak |
| Floating collections | Absent or weak | Absent or weak |
| Self-checkout and kioskLumina has a browser kiosk flow; SIP2 hardware support is planned. | Partial, add-on or early | Absent or weak |
| RFIDPlanned in Lumina. | Absent or weak | Absent or weak |
| Room and equipment booking | Strong or native | Absent or weak |
| Events and registration | Strong or native | Absent or weak |
| Reading challenges and clubsThe engagement module is early; some pieces are Planned in the parity table. | Partial, add-on or early | Absent or weak |
| Modern public catalogue UIPartly a matter of taste; see the screenshots. | Strong or native | Absent or weak |
| Digital lending integrationsPlanned in Lumina. | Absent or weak | Absent or weak |
| Dashboards and analytics | Strong or native | Partial, add-on or early |
| SMS, WhatsApp and push notices | Strong or native | Partial, add-on or early |
| Online paymentsRazorpay (UPI) with a sandbox in Lumina. | Strong or native | Absent or weak |
| Staff mobile app | Strong or native | Partial, add-on or early |
| Patron mobile app | Strong or native | Partial, add-on or early |
| WCAG 2.2 AALumina is built WCAG-minded but has had no independent audit. | Partial, add-on or early | Absent or weak |
| Indic scripts and collation | Partial, add-on or early | Absent or weak |
| Interlibrary loan | Partial, add-on or early | Absent or weak |
| Course reserves and reading lists | Strong or native | Absent or weak |
| E-resource management (licences, KBART, COUNTER) | Partial, add-on or early | Absent or weak |
| Open APIs and webhooks | Strong or native | Partial, add-on or early |
| Offline circulation | Strong or native | Absent or weak |
| Time to first value (install to working) | Partial, add-on or early | Partial, add-on or early |
Strong or native Partial, add-on or early Absent or weak
Based on vendor documentation, community pages and our own review as of October 2026. Ratings are judgements; spot-check any cell that matters to you. The Lumina column reflects code that exists today, not its roadmap.
Choose PMB if
- Your records are UNIMARC and you intend to keep them that way
- You rely on article-level periodical indexing or saved-search alerts today
Choose Lumina if
- You use MARC21 (or are moving to it)
- You want a modern staff and member experience, including mobile
- You want INR, UPI and Hindi from day one
Does Lumina support UNIMARC?
Not yet. UNIMARC and NORMARC are on the Planned list. If your catalogue is UNIMARC, PMB or Koha is the stronger choice today.
Coming from Koha instead? See the migration plan or compare with Koha.
Next step
See your library in Lumina.
Thirty minutes, your questions, and a walk through the desk, the catalogue and the Koha import. No slides.