Black Candy vs Lyrion Music Server
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Black Candy
Music streaming server
VS
Lyrion Music Server
Open-source music server for Squeezebox and software players
| Feature | Black Candy | Lyrion Music Server |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 81 · Excellent |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Ruby | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,418 | ★ 1,780 |
| First released | None | 2002 |
| Replaces | Spotify, Apple Music | Sonos, Spotify |
What are Black Candy and Lyrion Music Server?
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
Lyrion Music Server
Lyrion Music Server, formerly Logitech Media Server, is an open-source streaming audio server for Squeezebox hardware and software players. It supports synchronized multi-room audio and a large plugin ecosystem.
- Multi-room synchronized audio
- Squeezebox player support
- Large plugin library
- Internet radio
Black Candy vs Lyrion Music Server: key differences
Black Candy is written in Ruby, while Lyrion Music Server is built with Perl. Licensing differs — MIT for Black Candy versus GPL-2.0 for Lyrion Music Server. Lyrion Music Server is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Black Candy. Black Candy has the considerably larger community, at 4,418 GitHub stars versus 1,780.
Why pick each one
Choose Black Candy if…
- Clean modern interface
- Simple to deploy
Watch out for
- Music only
- Smaller ecosystem
Choose Lyrion Music Server if…
- Very mature project
- Active community
Watch out for
- Dated web interface
- Perl-based stack
Frequently asked questions
Is Black Candy or Lyrion Music Server better?
Neither is universally better. Black Candy has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Black Candy and Lyrion Music Server free and open-source?
Yes. Black Candy is licensed under MIT and Lyrion Music Server under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Black Candy and Lyrion Music Server with Docker?
Black Candy: yes. Lyrion Music Server: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Black Candy or Lyrion Music Server?
Lyrion Music Server 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.