Self-hosted alternatives to Spotify
You rent access to music you never own, and tracks vanish when licensing deals expire.
Below are 10 open-source projects that cover the same ground, each scored 0–100 on how actively it is actually maintained — commit volume, release cadence and recent trend. 9 of the 10 are currently rated healthy or better. Ordering reflects that score, not sponsorship.
| Project | Health | Activity (11 mo) | Stars | Licence | Last release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jellyfin Media server for audio, video, books, comics, and photos with a sleek interface and robust transcoding capabil | Thriving · 92 | 58k | GPL-2.0 | 15 Sept 2026 | |
| Ampache Web based audio/video streaming application. | Thriving · 90 | 3.8k | AGPL-3.0 | 15 Sept 2026 | |
| Beets Music library manager and MusicBrainz tagger (command-line and Web interface). | Thriving · 86 | 16k | MIT | 17 Sept 2026 | |
| mStream Music streaming server with GUI management tools. Runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. | Thriving · 85 | 2.4k | GPL-3.0 | 26 Sept 2026 | |
| Navidrome Music Server Modern Music Server and Streamer, compatible with Subsonic/Airsonic. | Thriving · 84 | 24k | GPL-3.0 | 24 Sept 2026 | |
| multi-scrobbler Scrobble plays from multiple sources to multiple scrobbling services. | Thriving · 82 | 1.2k | MIT | 27 Sept 2026 | |
| Audiobookshelf Audiobook and podcast server. It streams all audio formats, keeps and syncs progress across devices. Comes wit | Healthy · 79 | 14k | GPL-3.0 | 16 Sept 2026 | |
| moOde Audio Audiophile-quality music playback for the wonderful Raspberry Pi family of single board computers. | Healthy · 74 | 1.4k | GPL-3.0 | 8 Sept 2026 | |
| koel Personal music streaming server that works. | Healthy · 71 | 17k | MIT | 25 Sept 2026 | |
| Funkwhale Modern, web-based, convivial, multi-user and free music server. | Unrated | — | BSD-3-Clause | — |
How these were picked
Every project listed here is open source and can run entirely on hardware you control. We start from the categories that match Spotify's job — Media Streaming - Audio Streaming — then rank by health score so that a popular-but-abandoned project never appears above a smaller one that is actively shipping. The scoring method is documented in full.
The scores are recomputed from repository data on every rebuild, so this page reflects the state of these projects as of 1 Oct 2026 — not the day it was written.
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.
Best fit: Users who want to centralise their personal media collections and stream them across multiple devices without relying on third-party cloud services.
Worth knowing: Transcoding high-bitrate media files can demand significant CPU or GPU resources from your host server depending on the client compatibility.
Ampache
Web based audio/video streaming application.
Best fit: This is a strong choice for individuals who want to maintain direct control over their personal audio and video libraries without relying on commercial streaming services.
Worth knowing: You should consider the operational overhead of managing a PHP-based web application and the AGPL-3.0 licence requirements if you modify or distribute the code.
Beets
Music library manager and MusicBrainz tagger (command-line and Web interface).
Best fit: It is well-suited for terminal-centric users and audiophiles who want strict, automated control over their music metadata rather than relying on heavy graphical media servers.
Worth knowing: Because it relies heavily on the command line and complex configuration files, the initial setup and curation process has a steep learning curve. Automation rules can also inadvertently alter existing tags if your configuration is not thoroughly tested first.
mStream
Music streaming server with GUI management tools. Runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Best fit: It suits users who want a dedicated, cross-platform audio streaming solution with a web-based graphical interface for managing their music collection.
Worth knowing: The audio streaming software space includes many mature alternatives, meaning you should evaluate whether this specific option fits your workflow better than more widely adopted media servers.
Navidrome Music Server
Modern Music Server and Streamer, compatible with Subsonic/Airsonic.
Best fit: This is a suitable choice if you want to host your own audio library and prefer using established third-party desktop or mobile music apps that support the Subsonic API.
Worth knowing: You should check whether your preferred client apps are fully compatible with this particular server implementation, as feature support can vary across different Subsonic clients.