Koel vs mStream
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Koel
Personal music streaming server with an elegant interface
VS
mStream
Personal music streaming server with mobile apps
| Feature | Koel | mStream |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 95 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 17,262 | ★ 2,397 |
| First released | 2016 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Spotify | Spotify |
What are Koel and mStream?
Koel
Koel is a personal music streaming server with a focus on a clean, modern web interface. It supports smart playlists, last.fm scrobbling, and streaming your own collection from any browser.
- Elegant web player
- Smart playlists
- Last.fm scrobbling
- Mobile companion app
mStream
mStream is a personal music streaming server that you can run on any computer to access your music from anywhere. It includes mobile apps for offline downloads and playlist syncing.
- Cross-platform mobile apps
- Offline song downloads
- Playlist sync
- Lightweight server
Koel vs mStream: key differences
Koel is written in PHP, while mStream is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Koel versus GPL-3.0 for mStream. MStream is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Koel. Koel has the considerably larger community, at 17,262 GitHub stars versus 2,397.
Why pick each one
Choose Koel if…
- Beautiful interface
- Active community
Watch out for
- Needs a separate database
- Limited transcoding options
Choose mStream if…
- Easy to install
- Good mobile experience
Watch out for
- Basic web UI
- Slower release cadence
Frequently asked questions
Is Koel or mStream better?
Neither is universally better. Koel has the larger community, while mStream is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Koel and mStream free and open-source?
Yes. Koel is licensed under MIT and mStream under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Koel and mStream with Docker?
Koel: yes. mStream: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Koel or mStream?
mStream has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Koel. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.