Koel vs Recyclarr

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?
FeatureKoelRecyclarr
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseMITMIT
LanguagePHPC#
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, binary
GitHub stars★ 17,208★ 2,060
First released20162021
ReplacesSpotifyNotifiarr

Why pick each one

Choose Koel if…

  • Beautiful interface
  • Active community
Koel details

Choose Recyclarr if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (2.1k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C#
Recyclarr details

Frequently asked questions

Is Koel or Recyclarr better?

Neither is universally better. Koel has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Koel and Recyclarr free and open-source?

Yes. Koel is licensed under MIT and Recyclarr under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Koel and Recyclarr with Docker?

Koel: yes. Recyclarr: yes.

Related comparisons