Black Candy vs Finamp
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Black Candy | Finamp |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 74 · Good |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | MIT | MPL-2.0 |
| Language | Ruby | Dart |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,418 | ★ 4,279 |
| First released | None | 2021 |
| Replaces | Spotify, Apple Music | Plexamp, Spotify |
What are Black Candy and Finamp?
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
Finamp
Finamp is a free and open-source music client for Jellyfin built with Flutter for Android and iOS. It allows downloading albums and playlists for offline listening and supports gapless playback and transcoding.
- Offline music downloads
- Gapless playback
- Transcoded streaming
- Cross-platform mobile
Black Candy vs Finamp: key differences
Black Candy is written in Ruby, while Finamp is built with Dart. Licensing differs — MIT for Black Candy versus MPL-2.0 for Finamp. Finamp is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Black Candy. Black Candy lists first-class Docker deployment; Finamp does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Black Candy if…
- Clean modern interface
- Simple to deploy
Watch out for
- Music only
- Smaller ecosystem
Choose Finamp if…
- Reliable offline mode
- Active community
Watch out for
- Mobile only
- Requires Jellyfin server
Frequently asked questions
Is Black Candy or Finamp better?
Neither is universally better. Black Candy has the larger community, while Finamp is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Black Candy and Finamp free and open-source?
Yes. Black Candy is licensed under MIT and Finamp under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Black Candy and Finamp with Docker?
Black Candy: yes. Finamp: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Black Candy or Finamp?
Finamp has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Black Candy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.