Open-source alternatives to Spotify
The most popular self-hosted, open-source alternatives to Spotify (music streaming) are Navidrome Music Server (24,226 GitHub stars), koel (17,279 GitHub stars) and Beets (15,809 GitHub stars). SelfHostHub lists 12 options below, taken from its Audio Streaming category; 5 support Docker and all of them can run on your own server.
Comparison of self-hosted Spotify alternatives
| Project | GitHub stars | Licence | Language / platform | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Navidrome Music Server | 24,226 | GPL-3.0 | Docker, Go | Modern Music Server and Streamer, compatible with Subsonic/Airsonic. |
| koel | 17,279 | MIT | PHP | Personal music streaming server that works. |
| Beets | 15,809 | MIT | Python, deb | Music library manager and MusicBrainz tagger (command-line and Web interface). |
| Audiobookshelf | 14,702 | GPL-3.0 | Docker, deb, Nodejs | Audiobook and podcast server. It streams all audio formats, keeps and syncs progress across devices. Comes with apps for Android and iOS. |
| Mopidy | 8,599 | Apache-2.0 | Python, deb | Extensible music server. Offers a superset of the mpd API, as well as integration with 3rd party services like Spotify, SoundCloud etc. |
| Snapcast | 8,001 | GPL-3.0 | C++, deb | Synchronous multiroom audio server. |
| musikcube | 4,853 | BSD-3-Clause | C++, deb | Streaming audio server with Linux/macOS/Windows/Android clients. |
| Black Candy | 4,428 | MIT | Docker, Ruby | Music streaming server. |
| Ampache | 3,836 | AGPL-3.0 | PHP | Web based audio/video streaming application. |
| mpd | 2,796 | GPL-2.0 | C++ | Daemon to remotely play music, stream music, handle and organize playlists. Many clients available. |
| Polaris | 2,733 | MIT | Rust, Docker | Music browsing and streaming application optimized for large music collections, ease of use and high performance. |
| gonic | 2,615 | GPL-3.0 | Go, Docker | Lightweight music streaming server. Subsonic compatible. |
Star counts and licences come from the awesome-selfhosted dataset and may lag GitHub slightly.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the best open-source alternative to Spotify?
By GitHub stars, Navidrome Music Server is the most popular self-hosted alternative to Spotify listed here, followed by koel and Beets. The best fit depends on the features and stack you need.
Is there a free self-hosted alternative to Spotify?
Yes. All 12 projects on this page are open source and can be self-hosted at no licence cost; you pay only for your own server.
Which licences do these Spotify alternatives use?
The most common licences among them are GPL-3.0 (4), MIT (4) and Apache-2.0 (1).
Can I run a Spotify alternative with Docker?
5 of the 12 alternatives list Docker as a supported platform.