Airsonic vs Feishin
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Airsonic
Archived
Free, web-based media streamer derived from Subsonic
VS
Feishin
Modern cross-platform music player for self-hosted servers
| Feature | Airsonic | Feishin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | ≈5-minute setup |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 93 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Java | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,045 | ★ 9,986 |
| First released | 2017 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Spotify | Spotify |
What are Airsonic and Feishin?
Airsonic
Airsonic is a free, web-based media streamer providing access to your music collection from anywhere. It is the community fork of Subsonic and supports the Subsonic API for use with many client apps.
- Subsonic API support
- Multi-user with roles
- On-the-fly transcoding
- Podcast support
Feishin
Feishin is a modern, full-featured music player for Subsonic, Navidrome, and Jellyfin servers. It offers a polished desktop and web interface with synced lyrics, scrobbling, and theming.
- Subsonic and Jellyfin support
- Synced lyrics
- Scrobbling
- Desktop and web clients
Airsonic vs Feishin: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Airsonic's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Feishin is actively maintained. Airsonic is written in Java, while Feishin is built with TypeScript. Feishin is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Airsonic. Airsonic is the more established project (first released 2017), while Feishin arrived in 2023. Feishin has the considerably larger community, at 9,986 GitHub stars versus 2,045.
Why pick each one
Choose Airsonic if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Java
Watch out for
- Original repo less active
- Java memory usage
Choose Feishin if…
- Beautiful modern UI
- Multi-server support
Watch out for
- Client only
- Requires an existing server
Frequently asked questions
Is Airsonic or Feishin better?
Feishin is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Airsonic if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Airsonic and Feishin free and open-source?
Yes. Airsonic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Feishin under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Airsonic and Feishin with Docker?
Airsonic: yes. Feishin: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Airsonic or Feishin?
Feishin has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Airsonic. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.