Gonic vs Stash
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Stash
Self-hosted media organizer and server
| Feature | Gonic | Stash |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,555 | ★ 13,007 |
| First released | 2019 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Spotify, Plex | Plex |
What are Gonic and Stash?
Gonic
Gonic is a fast, lightweight music streaming server compatible with the Subsonic API. Written in Go, it works well on low-power hardware and supports podcasts and multiple music folders.
- Subsonic API compatible
- Very low resource use
- Podcast support
- Multiple music folders
Stash
Stash is a self-hosted media organizer that catalogs video and image collections with rich metadata, tagging, and scraping. It targets users who want a deeply organized personal media archive. It is deployed via Docker or a single binary.
- Rich metadata and tagging
- Scraper and plugin system
- Built-in web player
- SQLite-backed storage
Gonic vs Stash: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Gonic versus AGPL-3.0 for Stash. Gonic is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Stash. Stash has the considerably larger community, at 13,007 GitHub stars versus 2,555.
Why pick each one
Choose Gonic if…
- Runs on Raspberry Pi easily
- Works with many Subsonic clients
Watch out for
- No built-in web player polish
- Minimal admin UI
Choose Stash if…
- Powerful organization
- Extensible via plugins
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- Single-user focused
- Niche feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is Gonic or Stash better?
Neither is universally better. Stash has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Gonic and Stash free and open-source?
Yes. Gonic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Stash under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gonic and Stash with Docker?
Gonic: yes. Stash: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Gonic or Stash?
Gonic has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Stash. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.