Invidious vs mlmym
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted social networks options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Invidious
Alternative front-end to YouTube
VS
mlmym
Old-Reddit-style alternative front-end for Lemmy
| Feature | Invidious | mlmym |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Networks | Social Networks |
| License | GPL-3.0-only | MIT |
| Language | Crystal | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 50 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 22,442 | ★ 287 |
| First released | 2023 | 2023 |
| Replaces | YouTube |
Why pick each one
Choose Invidious if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0-only license
- Mature project with 22.4k GitHub stars
- Written in Crystal
- Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Choose mlmym if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Invidious or mlmym better?
Neither is universally better. Invidious has the larger community, while mlmym is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Invidious and mlmym free and open-source?
Yes. Invidious is licensed under GPL-3.0-only and mlmym under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Invidious and mlmym with Docker?
Invidious: check the project docs for container support. mlmym: yes.