Feishin vs LMS
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Feishin | LMS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 85 · Excellent |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,986 | ★ 1,680 |
| First released | 2023 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Spotify | Spotify |
What are Feishin and LMS?
Feishin
Feishin is a modern, full-featured music player for Subsonic, Navidrome, and Jellyfin servers. It offers a polished desktop and web interface with synced lyrics, scrobbling, and theming.
- Subsonic and Jellyfin support
- Synced lyrics
- Scrobbling
- Desktop and web clients
LMS
LMS is a lightweight, self-hosted music streaming server with a focus on performance and a built-in recommendation engine. It exposes the Subsonic API for compatibility with a wide range of clients.
- Subsonic API compatible
- Music recommendations
- Low resource use
- Scrobbling support
Feishin vs LMS: key differences
Feishin is written in TypeScript, while LMS is built with C++. LMS is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Feishin. LMS is the more established project (first released 2014), while Feishin arrived in 2023. Feishin has the considerably larger community, at 9,986 GitHub stars versus 1,680.
Why pick each one
Choose Feishin if…
- Beautiful modern UI
- Multi-server support
Watch out for
- Client only
- Requires an existing server
Choose LMS if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
Watch out for
- Smaller community
- Web UI is functional but plain
Frequently asked questions
Is Feishin or LMS better?
Feishin is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider LMS if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Feishin and LMS free and open-source?
Yes. Feishin is licensed under GPL-3.0 and LMS under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Feishin and LMS with Docker?
Feishin: yes. LMS: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Feishin or LMS?
LMS has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Feishin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.