Black Candy vs Sonixd
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
Sonixd
Archived
Cross-platform desktop client for Subsonic music servers
| Feature | Black Candy | Sonixd |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,418 | ★ 1,915 |
| First released | None | 2021 |
| Replaces | Spotify, Apple Music | Spotify |
What are Black Candy and Sonixd?
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
Sonixd
Sonixd is a cross-platform desktop music player for Subsonic-compatible servers including Navidrome, Airsonic, and Funkwhale. It provides queue management, theming, and scrobbling for a desktop listening experience.
- Subsonic-compatible client
- Advanced queue management
- Theming
- Scrobbling support
Black Candy vs Sonixd: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Sonixd's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Black Candy is actively maintained. Black Candy is written in Ruby, while Sonixd is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Black Candy versus AGPL-3.0 for Sonixd. Sonixd 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 1,915. Black Candy lists first-class Docker deployment; Sonixd does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Black Candy if…
- Clean modern interface
- Simple to deploy
Watch out for
- Music only
- Smaller ecosystem
Choose Sonixd if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Watch out for
- Desktop client only
- No longer actively developed
Frequently asked questions
Is Black Candy or Sonixd better?
Neither is universally better. Black Candy has the larger community, while Sonixd is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Black Candy and Sonixd free and open-source?
Yes. Black Candy is licensed under MIT and Sonixd under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Black Candy and Sonixd with Docker?
Black Candy: yes. Sonixd: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Black Candy or Sonixd?
Sonixd 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.