Black Candy vs OwnTone
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
OwnTone
Media server with AirPlay, Chromecast and Spotify support
| Feature | Black Candy | OwnTone |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Ruby | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,418 | ★ 2,560 |
| First released | None | 2009 |
| Replaces | Spotify, Apple Music | Spotify, Apple Music |
What are Black Candy and OwnTone?
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
OwnTone
OwnTone is a media server that streams music to AirPlay and Chromecast devices, with support for Spotify and internet radio. It serves your local library through DAAP and the Subsonic API.
- AirPlay and Chromecast output
- Spotify integration
- Internet radio
Black Candy vs OwnTone: key differences
Black Candy is written in Ruby, while OwnTone is built with C. Licensing differs — MIT for Black Candy versus GPL-2.0 for OwnTone. OwnTone is the lighter option, starting around 128 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 OwnTone if…
- Excellent AirPlay support
- Low footprint
Watch out for
- Web UI is minimal
- Configuration via files
Frequently asked questions
Is Black Candy or OwnTone 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 OwnTone free and open-source?
Yes. Black Candy is licensed under MIT and OwnTone under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Black Candy and OwnTone with Docker?
Black Candy: yes. OwnTone: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Black Candy or OwnTone?
OwnTone 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.