Emby vs Olaris
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Emby
Personal media server for your movies and shows
VS
Olaris
Media manager and transcoding server for personal libraries
| Feature | Emby | Olaris |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | Proprietary | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | C# | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,972 | ★ 300 |
| First released | 2015 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Plex, Netflix | Plex |
What are Emby and Olaris?
Emby
Emby is a media server that brings together personal video, music, and photo libraries with apps across platforms. It targets users who want a refined media server with optional premium features. It is deployed via Docker or native packages.
- Cross-platform client apps
- Live TV and DVR support
- Parental controls
- Hardware transcoding with Premiere
Olaris
Olaris is an open-source media manager and transcoding server for organizing and streaming movies and TV shows. It scrapes metadata automatically and serves content over a GraphQL API.
- Automatic metadata scraping
- GraphQL API
- On-the-fly transcoding
- Movie and TV organization
Emby vs Olaris: key differences
Emby is written in C#, while Olaris is built with Go. Licensing differs — Proprietary for Emby versus AGPL-3.0 for Olaris. Emby is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Olaris. Emby is the more established project (first released 2015), while Olaris arrived in 2019. Emby has the considerably larger community, at 4,972 GitHub stars versus 300.
Why pick each one
Choose Emby if…
- Polished interface
- Good device coverage
- Stable and mature
Watch out for
- Core became closed source
- Best features need Emby Premiere
Choose Olaris if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
Watch out for
- Development stalled
- Limited client apps
Frequently asked questions
Is Emby or Olaris better?
Emby is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Olaris if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Emby and Olaris free and open-source?
Yes. Emby is licensed under Proprietary and Olaris under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Emby and Olaris with Docker?
Emby: yes. Olaris: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Emby or Olaris?
Emby has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Olaris. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.