The Movie Database (TMDB)

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to The Movie Database (TMDB)

A curated collection of the 2 best self hosted alternatives to The Movie Database (TMDB).

Community-built movie and TV metadata platform providing a public API to retrieve structured information (titles, synopses, cast and crew, images, release dates, ratings, and search) for integration into apps, websites, and services.

Alternatives List

#1
Gameyfin

Gameyfin

Gameyfin organizes your video game collection into a searchable web library with automatic scanning, metadata fetching, downloads, sharing, and optional SSO integration.

Gameyfin screenshot

Gameyfin is an open source, web-based application for organizing and browsing a video game collection. It scans your game folders, enriches entries with metadata and cover art, and presents everything in a fast, easy-to-navigate library you can access from any modern browser.

Key Features

  • Automatically scans and indexes game libraries from configured folders
  • Fetches metadata and cover images to enrich your catalog
  • Web UI for browsing your collection and downloading game files
  • Library sharing for friends and family
  • LAN-friendly caching to keep browsing fast on local networks (videos may still be fetched remotely)
  • Theme support, including colorblind-friendly options
  • Plugin system for extending functionality
  • Optional SSO integration via OAuth2 / OpenID Connect

Use Cases

  • Create a centralized catalog for a large local ROM/game archive
  • Share a curated game library with family or a small community
  • Run a lightweight, browser-accessible game library for a homelab

Limitations and Considerations

  • Metadata quality and matching depend on external metadata sources and file naming consistency
  • Persistence is based on an embedded H2 database by default, which may be less suitable for very large deployments

Gameyfin is a good fit for users who want a Jellyfin-like experience for game collections, with a clean UI, automatic library organization, and extensibility. It can run in a container or on any JVM-capable system and is designed to be simple and fast.

919stars
32forks
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#2
Mydia

Mydia

Mydia is a Phoenix LiveView-based media manager for tracking, organizing, and automating downloads of movies and TV shows with TMDB/TVDB metadata.

Mydia is a modern, self-hosted media management platform built with Elixir and Phoenix LiveView. It provides a real-time web UI to track, organize, and automate downloads for movies and TV shows, including metadata enrichment and library management.

Key Features

  • Unified media library for movies and TV shows with TMDB and TVDB metadata enrichment.
  • Automated download workflows with quality profiles, smart release scoring and ranking.
  • Native integrations with common download clients (qBittorrent, Transmission, SABnzbd, NZBGet).
  • Indexer support via Prowlarr and Jackett, plus experimental built-in Cardigann indexer library.
  • Multi-user roles (admin/guest) and request-approval workflow for content requests.
  • SSO support via OIDC/OpenID Connect alongside local authentication.
  • Real-time interface powered by Phoenix LiveView for instant updates and responsive UI.
  • Storage and import conveniences: relative library paths, hardlink support for efficient storage, and import/sync from TMDB lists.
  • Multi-architecture Docker images and variants for SQLite (default) and PostgreSQL.
  • Background job processing with Oban, migrations with automatic pre-migration backups, and CI-driven test coverage including end-to-end tests.

Use Cases

  • Replace or complement desktop/cloud tools by managing a home movie and TV library with metadata and automated downloads.
  • Run automated release searching and downloading for preferred quality profiles and codecs for a household media server.
  • Provide multi-user access with role-based controls and SSO for families or small groups who share a media collection.

Limitations and Considerations

  • Project is early-stage (0.x.x): expect breaking changes between releases and potential instability in experimental features.
  • Several capabilities are marked experimental (built-in Cardigann indexers, playback/HLS streaming, subtitles) and may be incomplete or unreliable.
  • PostgreSQL support requires using the PostgreSQL-specific image variant; image variants are not interchangeable at runtime.

Mydia focuses on library management and download automation rather than full-featured streaming server functionality. It is oriented toward users who want an extensible, real-time web UI for maintaining and automating a local movies/TV collection.

615stars
15forks
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Why choose an open source alternative?

  • •Data ownership: Keep your data on your own servers
  • •No vendor lock-in: Freedom to switch or modify at any time
  • •Cost savings: Reduce or eliminate subscription fees
  • •Transparency: Audit the code and know exactly what's running