Kodi vs xTeVe

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?
FeatureKodixTeVe
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseGPL-2.0MIT
LanguageC++Go
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentbinary, bare-metaldocker, binary
GitHub stars★ 21,064★ 2,257
First released20022018
ReplacesPlexCable TV

Why pick each one

Choose Kodi if…

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

Choose xTeVe if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (2.3k GitHub stars)
xTeVe details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kodi or xTeVe better?

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

Are Kodi and xTeVe free and open-source?

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

Can I run Kodi and xTeVe with Docker?

Kodi: check the project docs for container support. xTeVe: yes.

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