Feishin vs Sonixd
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Feishin | Sonixd |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,986 | ★ 1,915 |
| First released | 2023 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Spotify | Spotify |
What are Feishin and Sonixd?
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
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
Feishin vs Sonixd: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Sonixd's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Feishin is actively maintained. Both projects are written in TypeScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Feishin versus AGPL-3.0 for Sonixd. Sonixd is the more established project (first released 2021), while Feishin arrived in 2023. Feishin has the considerably larger community, at 9,986 GitHub stars versus 1,915. Feishin lists first-class Docker deployment; Sonixd does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Feishin if…
- Beautiful modern UI
- Multi-server support
Watch out for
- Client only
- Requires an existing server
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 Feishin or Sonixd better?
Neither is universally better. Feishin has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Feishin and Sonixd free and open-source?
Yes. Feishin is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Sonixd under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Feishin and Sonixd with Docker?
Feishin: yes. Sonixd: check the project docs for container support.