Self-hosted alternatives to Emby
Want home media server without handing your data to Emby? These 30 self-hosted apps run on your own server (most are open source; licenses are listed below). Cheapest estimated hosting starts at about $10/month.
About Emby: Media server with a paid Premiere tier.
| App | Health | Stars | License | Docker | RAM (est.) | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jellyfin | Active | 59k | GPL-2.0 | ✓ | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| SRS | Active | 29.4k | MIT | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Kodi | Active | 21.4k | GPL-2.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| MediaMTX | Active | 20.6k | MIT | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| PeerTube | Active | 15.4k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Stash | Active | 13.4k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Owncast | Active | 11.6k | MIT | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| MediaCMS | Active | 5.2k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| OvenMediaEngine | Active | 3.3k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Kyoo | Active | 2.6k | GPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| µStreamer | Active | 2k | GPL-3.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| CyTube | Active | 1.6k | MIT | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Gerbera | Active | 1.4k | GPL-2.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Restreamer | Maintained | 5.2k | Apache-2.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Rapidbay | Active | 903 | MIT | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| NymphCast | Maintained | 2.6k | BSD-3-Clause | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| MistServer | Active | 520 | Unlicense | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| SyncTube | Active | 396 | MIT | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| mikochi | Active | 379 | MIT | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| ClipBucket | Active | 183 | AAL | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Tiramisu | Active | 152 | GPL-2.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| cmyflix | Maintained | 195 | AGPL-3.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| VideoLAN Client (VLC) | Active | 44 | GPL-2.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Rygel | Active | 11 | LGPL-2.1 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Icecast 2 | Maintained | 20 | GPL-2.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Tube | Maintained | 6 | MIT | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| ClyoCloud | Unknown | – | AGPL-3.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Emby | Unknown | – | ⊘ Proprietary | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Plex | Unknown | – | ⊘ Proprietary | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Subsonic | Unknown | – | ⊘ Proprietary | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
The options in detail
1. Jellyfin
Media server for audio, video, books, comics, and photos with a sleek interface and robust transcoding capabilities. Almost all modern platforms have clients, including Roku, Android TV, iOS, and Kodi.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. Latest release v12.4 (2026-10-26). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
2. SRS
Simple, high efficiency and real-time video server, supports RTMP, WebRTC, HLS, HTTP-FLV and SRT.
Active Last commit 2026-10-31. Latest release v8.0-d3 (2026-10-31). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
3. Kodi
Multimedia/Entertainment center, formerly known as XBMC. Runs on Android, BSD, Linux, macOS, iOS and Windows.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. Latest release 22.0rc1-Piers (2026-09-27). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
4. MediaMTX
Ready-to-use, zero-dependency real-time media server and proxy to publish, read, record, playback and route video/audio streams over SRT, WebRTC, RTSP, RTMP, HLS, MPEG-TS, RTP.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v1.21.3 (2026-10-25). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
5. PeerTube
Decentralized video streaming platform using P2P (BitTorrent) directly in the web browser.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v8.3.2 (2026-10-26). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
6. Stash
Web-based library organizer and player for your adult media stash, with auto-tagging and metadata scraping support.
Active Last commit 2026-11-02. Latest release latest_develop (2026-11-02). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
7. Owncast
Decentralized single-user live video streaming and chat server for running your own live streams similar in style to the large mainstream options.
Active Last commit 2026-10-25. Latest release v0.3.0 (2026-09-03). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
8. MediaCMS
Modern, fully featured video and media CMS, written in Python/Django/React, featuring a REST API.
Active Last commit 2026-10-26. Latest release v9.4.0 (2026-10-26). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
9. OvenMediaEngine
Streaming Server with Sub-Second Latency.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release v0.21.0 (2026-08-13). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
10. Kyoo
Innovative media browser designed for seamless streaming of anime, series and movies, offering advanced features like dynamic transcoding, auto watch history and intelligent metadata retrieval.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. Latest release v5.3.0 (2026-11-01). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
11. µStreamer
Lightweight and very quick server to stream MJPEG video from any V4L2 device to the net.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
12. CyTube
Synchronize media, chat, and more for an arbitrary number of channels.
Active Last commit 2026-10-02. Latest release v3.36.1 (2017-05-18). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
13. Gerbera
UPnP Media Server, which allows you to stream your digital media throughout your home network and listen to/watch it on a variety of UPnP compatible devices.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. 6 releases in the past year. Latest release v3.3.0 (2026-09-20). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
14. Restreamer
Access H.264 real-time video streaming on your website without a streaming provider.
Maintained Last commit 2026-05-22. Latest release v2.12.0 (2024-09-13). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
15. Rapidbay
Videostreaming service/torrent client that allows searching and playing videos from torrents in the browser or from a Chromecast/AppleTV/Smart TV.
Active Last commit 2026-10-29. Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
16. NymphCast
Turn your choice of Linux-capable hardware into an audio and video source for a television or powered speakers (alternative to Chromecast).
Maintained Last commit 2026-01-10. Latest release v0.2-alpha0 (2024-11-09). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
17. MistServer
Public domain streaming media server that works with any device and any format.
Active Last commit 2026-11-02. 9 releases in the past year. Latest release 3.13 (2026-11-03). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
18. SyncTube
Lightweight and very simple to setup CyTube alternative to watch videos with friends and chat.
Active Last commit 2026-10-31. Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
19. mikochi
Browse remote folders, upload files, delete, rename, download and stream files to VLC/mpv.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. Latest release 1.13.3 (2026-11-03). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
20. ClipBucket
Start your own video sharing website (YouTube/Netflix Clone) in a matter of minutes.
Active Last commit 2026-10-28. Latest release 5.5.3-#221 (2026-10-21). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
21. Tiramisu
BitTorrent engine with a FUSE virtual filesystem that streams torrents live to Plex/Jellyfin without downloading (alternative to Real-Debrid).
Active Last commit 2026-10-17. Latest release v1.11.8 (2026-10-17). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
22. cmyflix
Minimalist Plex/Jellyfin alternative to stream video.
Maintained Last commit 2025-12-18. 1 release in the past year. Latest release 0.27 (2025-12-18). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
23. VideoLAN Client (VLC)
Cross-platform multimedia player client and server supporting most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
Active Last commit 2026-11-03. Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
24. Rygel
UPnP AV MediaServer that allows you to easily share audio, video, and pictures. Media player software may use Rygel to become a MediaRenderer that may be controlled remotely by a UPnP or DLNA Controller.
Active Last commit 2026-10-31. 7 releases in the past year. Latest release 46.1 (2026-10-10). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
25. Icecast 2
Streaming audio/video server which can be used to create an Internet radio station or a privately running jukebox and many things in between.
Maintained Last commit 2026-01-19. Latest release v2.4.3 (2020-05-14). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
26. Tube
Youtube-like (without censorship and features you don't need!) video sharing app written in Go which also supports automatic transcoding to MP4 H.265 AAC, multiple collections and RSS feed.
Maintained Last commit 2026-05-24. Latest release 1.2.0 (2023-01-21). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
27. ClyoCloud
Personal cloud storage and media management application built for privacy, efficiency, and aesthetics.
Unknown Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
28. Emby
Home media server supporting both DLNA and DIAL (Chromecast) devices out-of-the-box.
Unknown Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
29. Plex
Centralized home media playback system with a powerful central server.
Unknown Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
30. Subsonic
Web-based media streamer and jukebox.
Unknown Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
Why self-host instead of Emby?
- Own your data — it lives on a server you control, with backups you decide on.
- Predictable cost — a small VPS often replaces per-seat pricing for a whole team or family.
- No lock-in — open-source licenses let you keep running the software even if a vendor disappears.
The trade-off: you are responsible for updates, backups and security. Pick an app marked Active (a commit in the last 90 days) and with Docker support for the easiest ride.
Browse related categories
Other alternatives guides
Emby is a trademark of its owner; this site is not affiliated with it. Listings come from the community-maintained awesome-selfhosted list.