SHSelfHostIndex

Lyrion Music Server vs Music Assistant

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?
LY Lyrion Music Server Open-source music server for Squeezebox and software players VS MU Music Assistant Music library manager that streams to many speaker types
FeatureLyrion Music ServerMusic Assistant
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseGPL-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePerlPython
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker
GitHub stars★ 1,750★ 2,924
First released20022020
ReplacesSonos, SpotifySonos, Spotify Connect

Why pick each one

Choose Lyrion Music Server if…

  • Very mature project
  • Active community
Lyrion Music Server details

Choose Music Assistant if…

  • Great smart-home integration
  • Many provider plugins
Music Assistant details

Frequently asked questions

Is Lyrion Music Server or Music Assistant better?

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

Are Lyrion Music Server and Music Assistant free and open-source?

Yes. Lyrion Music Server is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Music Assistant under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Lyrion Music Server and Music Assistant with Docker?

Lyrion Music Server: yes. Music Assistant: yes.

Related comparisons