Koel vs Supersonic

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureKoelSupersonic
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseMITGPL-3.0
LanguagePHPGo
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metalbinary, source
GitHub stars★ 17,208★ 2,288
First released20162022
ReplacesSpotifyPlexamp, Spotify desktop

Why pick each one

Choose Koel if…

  • Beautiful interface
  • Active community
Koel details

Choose Supersonic if…

  • Fast and lightweight
  • Active development
Supersonic details

Frequently asked questions

Is Koel or Supersonic better?

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

Are Koel and Supersonic free and open-source?

Yes. Koel is licensed under MIT and Supersonic under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Koel and Supersonic with Docker?

Koel: yes. Supersonic: check the project docs for container support.

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