Black Candy vs Polaris
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
Polaris
Music streaming server focused on speed and simplicity
| Feature | Black Candy | Polaris |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 75 · Good |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Ruby | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,418 | ★ 2,731 |
| First released | None | 2017 |
| Replaces | Spotify, Apple Music | Spotify |
What are Black Candy and Polaris?
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
Polaris
Polaris is a self-hosted music streaming application written in Rust, designed to be fast and easy to set up. It lets you browse and stream your music collection from a clean web interface or compatible clients.
- Written in Rust for speed
- Simple setup
- Last.fm integration
- Collection browsing
Black Candy vs Polaris: key differences
Black Candy is written in Ruby, while Polaris is built with Rust. Polaris 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 Polaris if…
- Low resource usage
- Single binary deployment
Watch out for
- Smaller ecosystem
- Fewer client options
Frequently asked questions
Is Black Candy or Polaris better?
Neither is universally better. Black Candy has the larger community, while Polaris is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Black Candy and Polaris free and open-source?
Yes. Black Candy is licensed under MIT and Polaris under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Black Candy and Polaris with Docker?
Black Candy: yes. Polaris: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Black Candy or Polaris?
Polaris 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.