Airsonic-Refix vs Transmission

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureAirsonic-RefixTransmission
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseGPL-3.0GPL-3.0
LanguageVueC++
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB50 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metalbare-metal
GitHub stars★ 450★ 15,047
First released20202023
ReplacesSpotifyµTorrent

Why pick each one

Choose Airsonic-Refix if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Vue
Airsonic-Refix details

Choose Transmission if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Mature project with 15k GitHub stars
  • Written in C++
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Transmission details

Frequently asked questions

Is Airsonic-Refix or Transmission better?

Neither is universally better. Transmission has the larger community, while Airsonic-Refix is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Airsonic-Refix and Transmission free and open-source?

Yes. Airsonic-Refix is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Transmission under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Airsonic-Refix and Transmission with Docker?

Airsonic-Refix: yes. Transmission: check the project docs for container support.

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