Kodi vs Ombi

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?
FeatureKodiOmbi
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseGPL-2.0GPL-2.0
LanguageC++C#
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB50 MB
Deploymentbinary, bare-metalbare-metal
GitHub stars★ 21,064★ 4,107
First released20022023
ReplacesPlexNetflix, Plex

Why pick each one

Choose Kodi if…

  • Extremely flexible
  • Massive add-on library
  • Long-standing project
Kodi details

Choose Ombi if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Active community (4.1k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C#
Ombi details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kodi or Ombi better?

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

Are Kodi and Ombi free and open-source?

Yes. Kodi is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Ombi under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Kodi and Ombi with Docker?

Kodi: check the project docs for container support. Ombi: check the project docs for container support.

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