Kyoo vs Olaris
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Kyoo
Open-source media browser for movies and TV shows
VS
Olaris
Media manager and transcoding server for personal libraries
| Feature | Kyoo | Olaris |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,527 | ★ 300 |
| First released | 2020 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Plex, Netflix | Plex |
What are Kyoo and Olaris?
Kyoo
Kyoo is a self-hosted media browser and streaming application for movies, TV shows, and anime. It automatically fetches metadata and offers a modern web and mobile interface for your library.
- Automatic metadata scraping
- Modern web UI
- Anime support
- Multi-user accounts
Olaris
Olaris is an open-source media manager and transcoding server for organizing and streaming movies and TV shows. It scrapes metadata automatically and serves content over a GraphQL API.
- Automatic metadata scraping
- GraphQL API
- On-the-fly transcoding
- Movie and TV organization
Kyoo vs Olaris: key differences
Kyoo is written in TypeScript, while Olaris is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Kyoo versus AGPL-3.0 for Olaris. Kyoo has the considerably larger community, at 2,527 GitHub stars versus 300.
Why pick each one
Choose Kyoo if…
- Clean modern design
- Good anime handling
Watch out for
- Smaller community
- Still maturing
Choose Olaris if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
Watch out for
- Development stalled
- Limited client apps
Frequently asked questions
Is Kyoo or Olaris better?
Neither is universally better. Kyoo has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kyoo and Olaris free and open-source?
Yes. Kyoo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Olaris under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kyoo and Olaris with Docker?
Kyoo: yes. Olaris: yes.