Mopidy vs OwnTone
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
OwnTone
Media server with AirPlay, Chromecast and Spotify support
| Feature | Mopidy | OwnTone |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Python | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,587 | ★ 2,560 |
| First released | 2010 | 2009 |
| Replaces | Spotify | Spotify, Apple Music |
What are Mopidy and OwnTone?
Mopidy
Mopidy is an extensible music server written in Python that plays music from local disk, Spotify, SoundCloud, and other sources. It is controlled through MPD and web clients and is popular for DIY music players.
- Plays from multiple backends
- MPD protocol compatible
- Rich plugin ecosystem
- Web client support
OwnTone
OwnTone is a media server that streams music to AirPlay and Chromecast devices, with support for Spotify and internet radio. It serves your local library through DAAP and the Subsonic API.
- AirPlay and Chromecast output
- Spotify integration
- Internet radio
Mopidy vs OwnTone: key differences
Mopidy is written in Python, while OwnTone is built with C. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Mopidy versus GPL-2.0 for OwnTone. OwnTone is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Mopidy. Mopidy has the considerably larger community, at 8,587 GitHub stars versus 2,560.
Why pick each one
Choose Mopidy if…
- Highly extensible
- Great for Raspberry Pi projects
Watch out for
- No native UI
- Requires plugins for most features
Choose OwnTone if…
- Excellent AirPlay support
- Low footprint
Watch out for
- Web UI is minimal
- Configuration via files
Frequently asked questions
Is Mopidy or OwnTone better?
Neither is universally better. Mopidy has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Mopidy and OwnTone free and open-source?
Yes. Mopidy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OwnTone under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mopidy and OwnTone with Docker?
Mopidy: yes. OwnTone: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Mopidy or OwnTone?
OwnTone has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Mopidy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.