Kyoo vs Streama
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
Streama
Self-hosted streaming media server with a clean web interface
| Feature | Kyoo | Streama |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,527 | ★ 9,820 |
| First released | 2020 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Plex, Netflix | Netflix, Plex |
What are Kyoo and Streama?
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
Streama
Streama is a self-hosted streaming media server that lets you build a personal Netflix-style library of movies and TV shows. It runs in the browser and supports multiple user accounts with watch progress tracking.
- Netflix-style UI
- Multi-user accounts
- Watch progress tracking
- Subtitle support
Kyoo vs Streama: key differences
Kyoo is written in TypeScript, while Streama is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Kyoo versus MIT for Streama. Streama is the more established project (first released 2015), while Kyoo arrived in 2020. Streama has the considerably larger community, at 9,820 GitHub stars versus 2,527.
Why pick each one
Choose Kyoo if…
- Clean modern design
- Good anime handling
Watch out for
- Smaller community
- Still maturing
Choose Streama if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.8k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Watch out for
- No live transcoding
- Slower development pace
Frequently asked questions
Is Kyoo or Streama better?
Neither is universally better. Streama has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kyoo and Streama free and open-source?
Yes. Kyoo is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Streama under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kyoo and Streama with Docker?
Kyoo: yes. Streama: yes.