Amperfy vs Black Candy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Amperfy | Black Candy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 84 · Excellent | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Swift | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,761 | ★ 4,418 |
| First released | 2021 | None |
| Replaces | Spotify, Apple Music | Spotify, Apple Music |
What are Amperfy and Black Candy?
Amperfy
Amperfy is a free and open-source iOS music streaming app that connects to Ampache and Subsonic-compatible servers. It supports offline playback, playlists, and CarPlay for self-hosted music libraries.
- Ampache and Subsonic support
- Offline playback
- CarPlay integration
- Playlist sync
Black Candy
A self hosted music streaming server. Contribute to blackcandy-org/blackcandy development by creating an account on GitHub.
- Personal music streaming
- Responsive web player
- Multi-user accounts
- PWA support
Amperfy vs Black Candy: key differences
Amperfy is written in Swift, while Black Candy is built with Ruby. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Amperfy versus MIT for Black Candy. Amperfy is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Black Candy. Black Candy has the considerably larger community, at 4,418 GitHub stars versus 1,761. Black Candy lists first-class Docker deployment; Amperfy does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Amperfy if…
- Native iOS experience
- Supports two server APIs
Watch out for
- iOS only
- Music only
Choose Black Candy if…
- Clean modern interface
- Simple to deploy
Watch out for
- Music only
- Smaller ecosystem
Frequently asked questions
Is Amperfy or Black Candy better?
Neither is universally better. Black Candy has the larger community, while Amperfy is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Amperfy and Black Candy free and open-source?
Yes. Amperfy is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Black Candy under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Amperfy and Black Candy with Docker?
Amperfy: check the project docs for container support. Black Candy: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Amperfy or Black Candy?
Amperfy has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Black Candy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.