Self-hosted alternatives to Pocket Casts
Want podcast listening without handing your data to Pocket Casts? These 4 self-hosted apps run on your own server. Cheapest estimated hosting starts at about $5/month.
About Pocket Casts: Podcast player app owned by Automattic.
| App | Health | Stars | License | Docker | RAM (est.) | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audiobookshelf | Active | 14.9k | GPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Pinepods | Active | 1k | GPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Audioserve | Active | 863 | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| vod2pod-rss | Active | 390 | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
The options in detail
1. Audiobookshelf
Audiobook and podcast server. It streams all audio formats, keeps and syncs progress across devices. Comes with apps for Android and iOS.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v2.37.2 (2026-10-23). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
2. Pinepods
Podcast management system with multi-user support. Pinepods utilizes a central database so aspects like listen time and themes follow from device to device.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. Latest release 0.9.2 (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
3. Audioserve
Simple personal server to serve audio files from directories (audiobooks, music, podcasts...). Focused on simplicity and supports sync of play position between clients.
Active Last commit 2026-11-02. Latest release v0.30.1 (2026-05-23). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
4. vod2pod-rss
Convert YouTube and Twitch channels to podcasts, no storage required. Transcodes VoDs to MP3 192k on the fly, generates an RSS feed to use in podcast clients.
Active Last commit 2026-10-30. Latest release v1.2.5 (2026-09-09). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
Why self-host instead of Pocket Casts?
- 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.
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Other alternatives guides
Pocket Casts is a trademark of its owner; this site is not affiliated with it. Listings come from the community-maintained awesome-selfhosted list.