Finamp vs Koel

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?
FeatureFinampKoel
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseMPL-2.0MIT
LanguageDartPHP
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 4,169★ 17,208
First released20212016
ReplacesPlexamp, SpotifySpotify

Why pick each one

Choose Finamp if…

  • Reliable offline mode
  • Active community
Finamp details

Choose Koel if…

  • Beautiful interface
  • Active community
Koel details

Frequently asked questions

Is Finamp or Koel better?

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

Are Finamp and Koel free and open-source?

Yes. Finamp is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Koel under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Finamp and Koel with Docker?

Finamp: check the project docs for container support. Koel: yes.

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