Sonus Note - Black Candy vs Tempo
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
Tempo
Material You Subsonic music client for Android
| Feature | Sonus Note - Black Candy | Tempo |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Ruby | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,337 | ★ 2,220 |
| First released | 2018 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Spotify, Apple Music | Spotify, Plexamp |
Why pick each one
Choose Sonus Note - Black Candy if…
- Clean modern interface
- Simple to deploy
Frequently asked questions
Is Sonus Note - Black Candy or Tempo 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 Tempo free and open-source?
Yes. Sonus Note - Black Candy is licensed under MIT and Tempo under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Sonus Note - Black Candy and Tempo with Docker?
Sonus Note - Black Candy: yes. Tempo: check the project docs for container support.