MiniDLNA vs Stash
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | MiniDLNA | Stash |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 200 | ★ 13,007 |
| First released | 2008 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Plex | Plex |
What are MiniDLNA and Stash?
MiniDLNA
MiniDLNA, also known as ReadyMedia, is a simple, lightweight media server that complies with DLNA and UPnP-AV standards. It serves music, photos, and video to network-connected devices with minimal configuration.
- DLNA/UPnP compliant
- Extremely lightweight
- Minimal configuration
- Serves audio, video, photos
Stash
Stash is a self-hosted media organizer that catalogs video and image collections with rich metadata, tagging, and scraping. It targets users who want a deeply organized personal media archive. It is deployed via Docker or a single binary.
- Rich metadata and tagging
- Scraper and plugin system
- Built-in web player
- SQLite-backed storage
MiniDLNA vs Stash: key differences
MiniDLNA is written in C, while Stash is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for MiniDLNA versus AGPL-3.0 for Stash. MiniDLNA is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Stash. MiniDLNA is the more established project (first released 2008), while Stash arrived in 2019. Stash has the considerably larger community, at 13,007 GitHub stars versus 200.
Why pick each one
Choose MiniDLNA if…
- Tiny footprint
- Runs on routers and NAS
Watch out for
- No transcoding
- No web interface
Choose Stash if…
- Powerful organization
- Extensible via plugins
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- Single-user focused
- Niche feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is MiniDLNA or Stash better?
Neither is universally better. Stash has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are MiniDLNA and Stash free and open-source?
Yes. MiniDLNA is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Stash under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run MiniDLNA and Stash with Docker?
MiniDLNA: yes. Stash: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, MiniDLNA or Stash?
MiniDLNA has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Stash. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.