Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Navidrome

Koel is a web-based personal audio streaming service designed for hosting and streaming your own music collection. It combines a modern web player with robust library management and supports multi-user setups.

Key Features

• Stream your personal music library via a fast, modern web interface
• Multi-user support with user accounts
• Favorites, playlists, and smart playlists
• Cross-device playback synchronization
• Library management: upload, delete, and edit track metadata and artwork
• Lossless audio support, equalizer settings, and visualizers
• Radio and podcast support
• Optional metadata enrichment integrations (e.g., MusicBrainz and Last.fm)

Use Cases

• Self-host a personal “Spotify-like” music server for your own library
• Provide a shared home or community music library with separate user accounts
• Stream music from a server while keeping a centralized, curated collection

Koel is well-suited for users who want a polished, developer-friendly music server with a familiar listening experience. It focuses on fast browsing and playback while keeping your library under your control.

Black Candy is an open-source, self-hosted music streaming server that provides a web-based music library and player for personal use. It scans a mounted media directory, builds a browsable catalog from audio metadata, and serves audio to web and mobile clients.

Key Features

• Library indexing from a local media path (reads tags/metadata for artists, albums, tracks)
• Web player with playback queue, playlists and search
• Multi-user accounts and per-user preferences
• Mobile client support (Android APK / F‑Droid and iOS app available) and responsive web UI
• Docker images for easy deployment; supports environment variables for DB, media path and options
• Uses SQLite by default; optional PostgreSQL support for larger deployments
• Integrations: album/artist images via Discogs API; server-side audio handling via FFmpeg; image processing via libvips

Use Cases

• Personal cloud music server to stream your own music library across devices
• Small multi-user household or friend group music sharing with account separation
• Developers or hobbyists building features or integrations on top of a Rails-based streaming backend

Limitations and Considerations

• Default SQLite configuration may not scale well for very large libraries or many concurrent users; PostgreSQL is recommended for larger deployments
• Edge/master images are considered unstable and may contain breaking changes or data-loss risks; use stable releases for production
• Resource usage for large libraries (media scanning, transcoding with FFmpeg, image processing) can be significant and depends on host hardware

Black Candy is focused on delivering a simple, modern self-hosted music experience with mobile support and straightforward Docker deployment. It is suitable for personal and small-group use and can be scaled by using PostgreSQL and appropriate host resources.

Polaris is a self-hosted music streaming server designed to let you enjoy your personal music collection from any computer or mobile device. It focuses on high performance, a responsive experience, and smooth handling of very large libraries.

Key Features

• Stream a personal music library through a web-based player UI
• Supports common audio formats including FLAC, MP3, OGG, Opus, WAV, AIFF, MP4, MPC, and APE
• Browsing by album, artist, and genre, plus file tree browsing
• Powerful search with per-field queries
• Multi-user support with user-specific playlists
• Visual audio waveform display
• Dark mode and customizable color palette
• Plain-text configuration with a built-in UI editor
• Built-in interactive API documentation distributed with each installation

Use Cases

• Run a private music server for a home lab or NAS-backed music library
• Provide multi-user access to a shared household music collection
• Stream a large collection remotely to mobile devices while traveling

Limitations and Considerations

• Primarily targets personal-library streaming rather than subscription services or music discovery features
• Remote access typically requires additional networking setup (for example DNS and routing)

Polaris is well-suited for users who want a fast, clean, self-hosted alternative for streaming their own music library. Its focus on performance, large-library support, and multi-user features makes it a strong choice for home and small-team deployments.

mStream is a lightweight open-source music streaming server that provides remote access and device sync for personal music collections. It serves a web-based player and supports mobile clients, letting users stream lossless and lossy formats from their own host.

Key Features

• Web-based music player with gapless playback and a Milkdrop-style visualizer. (github.com)
• Supports common audio formats including FLAC, MP3, AAC, OGG and others. (github.com)
• Playlist management, playlist sharing and drag-and-drop file upload via the web UI. (mstream.io)
• Lightweight Node.js server designed to run on Windows, macOS, Linux and ARM boards (e.g., Raspberry Pi). (github.com)
• Official demo interface available for previewing the web player. (demo.mstream.io)

Use Cases

• Stream a private music library to any device while keeping full control of data and audio files. (mstream.io)
• Provide shared access to a household or small group's music collection with playlist sharing and user accounts. (github.com)
• Run on low-power hardware (Raspberry Pi / small NAS) to serve multi-terabyte libraries with low CPU/memory overhead. (github.com)

Limitations and Considerations

• Mobile apps are provided by third parties (community/third‑party clients) rather than a single official first‑party store app; availability and maintenance can vary. (github.com)
• Core server is Node.js-based and relies on in-repo JavaScript libraries for metadata and fast in-memory indexing; deployment assumptions (e.g., persistence/backups) should be reviewed for large libraries. (github.com)

mStream is a practical choice for users who want a simple, self-hosted music streaming solution with broad format support and a browser-first player. It emphasizes ease of setup, low resource use, and a familiar web/mobile playback experience.

Gonic is a lightweight music streaming server that implements the Subsonic server API, allowing you to use many existing Subsonic-compatible clients. It scans your local music library, serves streams, and can transcode audio on the fly.

Key Features

• Subsonic-compatible API for broad client support
• Library browsing by folder structure and by tags
• On-the-fly audio transcoding with caching (via FFmpeg)
• Multi-user support with per-user preferences and playlists
• Podcast support
• Jukebox mode for server-side, gapless playback
• Web UI for configuration, user management, and library scans
• Scrobbling support (Last.fm and ListenBrainz)

Use Cases

• Self-hosted personal or family music streaming with existing Subsonic clients
• Lightweight music server for low-power devices (for example, Raspberry Pi)
• Centralized library with transcoding for bandwidth- or device-limited playback

Limitations and Considerations

• Transcoding features require FFmpeg to be available on the host
• Client experience depends on the capabilities of the chosen Subsonic client

Gonic focuses on being small, fast, and compatible rather than providing an all-in-one media suite. It is a practical choice if you want a simple Subsonic API server with solid scanning, transcoding, and multi-user playback.

LMS (Lightweight Music Server) is an open-source music streaming server that provides a browser-based interface to browse, search and stream audio collections. It exposes a Subsonic/OpenSubsonic-compatible API, supports rich metadata and includes a built-in recommendation engine.

Key Features

• Web-based user interface with a media player and keyboard shortcuts
• Subsonic/OpenSubsonic API compatibility for third-party clients
• Multi-valued tags and detailed artist/release metadata handling (MusicBrainz identifiers supported)
• Recommendation engine and "radio" mode that fills play queue with similar tracks
• Audio transcoding for compatibility and bandwidth optimization (uses ffmpeg)
• Multi-library support, playlists (m3u/m3u8), podcasts and lyrics (lrc/txt/embedded)
• ReplayGain support and tracking integration with ListenBrainz (scrobbling and loves)
• User management with multiple authentication backends and administrative settings
• Lightweight filesystem-based artist image and disc image discovery; configurable scanner

Use Cases

• Provide network-available playback for a home or small office music collection via browser or Subsonic clients
• Run a low-footprint music streaming service on modest hardware (Raspberry Pi or small server) with on-the-fly transcoding
• Power a small internet/local radio-style "autofill" stream using the radio/recommendation features

Limitations and Considerations

• The tag-based recommendation engine can noticeably slow the user interface on very large libraries or on low-end hardware; it can be disabled if performance is impacted
• Audio transcoding (for compatibility or bandwidth reduction) relies on ffmpeg and increases CPU usage during transcoding operations
• Some features depend on external services (MusicBrainz, ListenBrainz) for best metadata and scrobbling functionality; network access is required for those integrations

LMS is a feature-rich option for managing and streaming personal music collections with emphasis on tags, metadata fidelity and interoperability through Subsonic-compatible APIs. It is suited to users who want a compact, configurable server with transcoding and discovery features.

LMS (Lightweight Music Server) is an open-source, self-hosted music streaming server that provides a web interface to access and manage personal music collections. It supports rich metadata, multi-library setups, and compatibility with Subsonic/OpenSubsonic clients.

Key Features

• Web-based music library browsing with support for multi-valued tags (genre, mood, artists, etc.)
• Subsonic/OpenSubsonic API compatibility for external clients
• MusicBrainz identifiers and release/group support to handle duplicates and multiple versions
• ListenBrainz integration for scrobbling and synchronizing listens and 'love' feedbacks
• Recommendation engine and "radio" mode to fill play queues with similar tracks
• Audio transcoding for client compatibility and bandwidth reduction (relies on FFmpeg)
• ReplayGain support, playlists (m3u/m3u8), podcast support, and lyrics (embedded, lrc, txt)
• Multi-library support, artist information folder handling, and flexible album/track grouping
• User management with multiple authentication backends and admin configuration options

Use Cases

• Host and stream a personal music collection remotely with a browser-based UI
• Provide Subsonic-compatible streaming to mobile or desktop clients while preserving rich metadata
• Build a small-scale recommendation/radio service for private collections and curated playback

Limitations and Considerations

• The tag-based recommendation engine can significantly slow the UI on very large databases or under-constrained hardware; it can be disabled in administration settings
• On-the-fly transcoding increases CPU usage and may require configuring / provisioning FFmpeg and adequate CPU resources for smooth playback across low-bandwidth clients

LMS is suitable for users who want a lightweight, metadata-rich music server with Subsonic compatibility and features like recommendations, scrobbling integration, and flexible tagging. It is actively developed and distributed under the GPL-3.0 license.

Meelo is an open-source, self-hosted music server and web app designed for music collectors and heavy music libraries. It organizes music by albums/releases/versions, supports rich metadata sources and treats music videos as first-class media.

Key Features

• Collector-focused data model: albums with multiple releases, songs with versions and tracks, explicit handling of B-sides and rare tracks
• Flexible metadata parsing from embedded tags and filenames; integrates external providers for genres, descriptions and ratings
• Music video support integrated into album/artist/song pages and differentiated from interviews or behind-the-scenes videos
• Automatic detection of featured artists/duets and de-duplication when browsing large libraries
• Supports wide range of audio/video formats via on-the-fly transcoding; designed to work with ffmpeg-based transcoder
• Dockerized microservices architecture for easy deployment, including separate front, server, scanner and supporting services
• Search/indexing backed by a dedicated search service, plus optional scrobbling to ListenBrainz/Last.fm and synced lyrics support

Use Cases

• Manage and browse large personal music collections with multiple releases and rare tracks
• Host a private music web app for family or a small group with centralized metadata and playback
• Run on a home server using Docker Compose with Postgres and Redis for persistence and caching

Limitations and Considerations

• Mobile support is experimental: an Android app exists but is alpha and some mobile features are still missing
• Not all consumer features are present (for example, gapless playback and advanced smart-playlist capabilities are on the roadmap)
• Requires some setup knowledge (Docker, environment variables, and a clean metadata/file layout) and occasional tuning of the transcoder

Meelo is aimed at users who need deep collection organisation and metadata flexibility rather than a plug-and-play streaming service. It is actively maintained and distributed as Docker images for straightforward deployment.

Audioserve is a simple personal audio streaming server that serves audio files directly from directory structures, designed primarily for audiobooks. It includes a modern web PWA client and a lightweight API, focusing on fast browsing and playback position tracking.

Key Features

• Serves audio files from folders without requiring a separate media database
• Web PWA client for modern browsers, plus an alternative older web client
• Supports single-file audiobooks (such as M4B) by exposing chapters as virtual tracks
• Optional transcoding and transcoding cache for bandwidth-friendly streaming
• Full-text search over folder names
• Playlists and playback position sharing between clients
• Collection caching in an embedded key-value store for faster browsing and search
• Filesystem change watching to keep the library up to date

Use Cases

• Self-hosted audiobook server for personal libraries organized by folders
• Lightweight audio streaming for language learning courses or lecture recordings
• Multi-collection setups (for example, separate libraries per language)

Limitations and Considerations

• Initial collection scan and cache build can take significant time for large libraries
• Search is focused on folder names (not per-track indexing or full metadata search)

Audioserve fits users who want a fast, minimalist audiobook-oriented server that respects existing folder structures and works well in a browser. It is especially useful when you need chapter support for single-file audiobooks and simple, reliable streaming without heavyweight media management.

Listenarr is a cross-platform server for managing an audiobook library with automation similar to Sonarr/Radarr, focused on acquisition, tracking, and organization. It integrates metadata sources and download clients to keep your collection tidy and up to date.

Key Features

• Automated searching and downloading from torrent and NZB indexers
• Integration with common download clients (for example qBittorrent, Transmission, SABnzbd, NZBGet)
• Rich metadata enrichment using sources such as Audible and Amazon
• Intelligent library organization with configurable naming and folder structure
• Responsive web interface for desktop and mobile use
• Real-time monitoring of download progress and status
• Optional Discord integration for interacting with the server via slash commands

Use Cases

• Build and maintain an automated audiobook library for a home media server
• Standardize audiobook metadata and file naming across multiple sources
• Monitor and manage ongoing downloads in one interface

Limitations and Considerations

• Actively developed; some features (such as full localization) may be incomplete or evolving

Listenarr is a good fit if you want an automation-first audiobook manager with modern UI, metadata enrichment, and integrations with popular torrent/Usenet tooling. It combines search, download orchestration, and library organization into a single service.

Supysonic is a Python server that implements the Subsonic server API to provide remote access to personal music libraries. It exposes the Subsonic-compatible API so existing Subsonic clients can browse, stream and manage music served from a self-hosted instance.

Key Features

• Implements Subsonic API (targets version 1.12.0) for compatibility with Subsonic clients
• Browse libraries by folders or tags and support for cover art, starred tracks and ratings
• Streaming of many audio formats with optional on-the-fly transcoding
• User and random playlists plus a jukebox mode for shared playback
• Scrobbling support for Last.fm and ListenBrainz
• Command-line tools for user and library management and an optional daemon to watch library changes

Use Cases

• Serve a personal music collection to mobile and desktop Subsonic-compatible clients
• Provide a home jukebox or shared playback system for parties and gatherings
• Centralize music playback while sending play data to scrobbling services

Limitations and Considerations

• Transcoding may require external encoder binaries and additional system packages; performance depends on host CPU and encoder availability
• Targets a specific Subsonic API version; some newer or non-standard client features may be unsupported

Supysonic is practical for users who want a lightweight, Python-based Subsonic-compatible server. It focuses on API compatibility and core streaming features rather than providing a heavy web UI or large-scale enterprise features.