CyTube vs PeerTube

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureCyTubePeerTube
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageJavaScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM512 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentbare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 1,576★ 15,236
First released20172018
ReplacesYouTube, Vimeo

Why pick each one

Choose CyTube if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Active community (1.6k GitHub stars)
  • Written in JavaScript
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
CyTube details

Choose PeerTube if…

  • Reduces bandwidth via P2P
  • Federates with the Fediverse
PeerTube details

Frequently asked questions

Is CyTube or PeerTube better?

Neither is universally better. PeerTube has the larger community, while CyTube is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are CyTube and PeerTube free and open-source?

Yes. CyTube is licensed under MIT and PeerTube under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run CyTube and PeerTube with Docker?

CyTube: check the project docs for container support. PeerTube: yes.

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