Airsonic vs Lidarr
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
Lidarr
Music collection manager and download automation tool
| Feature | Airsonic | Lidarr |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 84 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Java | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,045 | ★ 5,679 |
| First released | 2017 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Spotify | Spotify |
What are Airsonic and Lidarr?
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
Lidarr
Lidarr is the music collection manager for the *arr suite, automating searches and downloads for your favorite artists. It monitors releases and integrates with download clients and media servers.
- Automated music collection management
- Release monitoring
- Download client integration
- Quality profiles
Airsonic vs Lidarr: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Airsonic's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Lidarr is actively maintained. Airsonic is written in Java, while Lidarr is built with C#. Lidarr has the considerably larger community, at 5,679 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 Lidarr if…
- Part of the popular *arr suite
- Strong automation
Watch out for
- Metadata accuracy varies
- Companion to a media server
Frequently asked questions
Is Airsonic or Lidarr better?
Neither is universally better. Lidarr has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Airsonic and Lidarr free and open-source?
Yes. Airsonic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Lidarr under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Airsonic and Lidarr with Docker?
Airsonic: yes. Lidarr: yes.