Sonus Note - Black Candy vs Sonixd
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?
Sonus Note - Black Candy
Self-hosted Ruby on Rails music streaming server
VS
Sonixd
Cross-platform desktop client for Subsonic music servers
| Feature | Sonus Note - Black Candy | Sonixd |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,337 | ★ 1,919 |
| First released | 2018 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Spotify, Apple Music | Spotify |
Why pick each one
Choose Sonus Note - Black Candy if…
- Clean modern interface
- Simple to deploy
Choose Sonixd if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Sonus Note - Black Candy or Sonixd better?
Neither is universally better. Sonus Note - Black Candy has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Sonus Note - Black Candy and Sonixd free and open-source?
Yes. Sonus Note - Black Candy is licensed under MIT and Sonixd under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Sonus Note - Black Candy and Sonixd with Docker?
Sonus Note - Black Candy: yes. Sonixd: check the project docs for container support.