Black Candy vs mStream
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 | mStream |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,418 | ★ 2,396 |
| First released | None | 2016 |
| Replaces | Spotify, Apple Music | Spotify |
What are Black Candy and mStream?
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
mStream
mStream is a personal music streaming server that you can run on any computer to access your music from anywhere. It includes mobile apps for offline downloads and playlist syncing.
- Cross-platform mobile apps
- Offline song downloads
- Playlist sync
- Lightweight server
Black Candy vs mStream: key differences
Black Candy is written in Ruby, while mStream is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Black Candy versus GPL-3.0 for mStream. MStream is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Black Candy.
Why pick each one
Choose Black Candy if…
- Clean modern interface
- Simple to deploy
Watch out for
- Music only
- Smaller ecosystem
Choose mStream if…
- Easy to install
- Good mobile experience
Watch out for
- Basic web UI
- Slower release cadence
Frequently asked questions
Is Black Candy or mStream better?
Neither is universally better. Black Candy has the larger community, while mStream is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Black Candy and mStream free and open-source?
Yes. Black Candy is licensed under MIT and mStream under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Black Candy and mStream with Docker?
Black Candy: yes. mStream: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Black Candy or mStream?
mStream 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.