SHSelfHostIndex

Gerbera vs Rygel

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

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GE Gerbera UPnP media server for streaming to DLNA devices VS RY Rygel GNOME UPnP/DLNA media sharing server
FeatureGerberaRygel
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseGPL-2.0LGPL-2.1
LanguageC++Vala
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM128 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metalbare-metal
GitHub stars★ 1,390★ 200
First released20182008
ReplacesPlexPlex

Why pick each one

Choose Gerbera if…

  • Works with DLNA TVs
  • Low resource use
  • No client apps needed
Gerbera details

Choose Rygel if…

  • Released under the LGPL-2.1 license
  • Written in Vala
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Rygel details

Frequently asked questions

Is Gerbera or Rygel better?

Neither is universally better. Gerbera has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Gerbera and Rygel free and open-source?

Yes. Gerbera is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Rygel under LGPL-2.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Gerbera and Rygel with Docker?

Gerbera: yes. Rygel: check the project docs for container support.

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