Olaris vs Reiverr
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Olaris | Reiverr |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 300 | ★ 2,347 |
| First released | 2019 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Plex | Plex |
What are Olaris and Reiverr?
Olaris
Olaris is an open-source media manager and transcoding server for organizing and streaming movies and TV shows. It scrapes metadata automatically and serves content over a GraphQL API.
- Automatic metadata scraping
- GraphQL API
- On-the-fly transcoding
- Movie and TV organization
Reiverr
Reiverr is a clean, unified interface for Jellyfin combined with Radarr and Sonarr that lets you browse, request, and stream content from one place. It brings discovery and playback together in a single modern web app.
- Unified Jellyfin and *arr interface
- Browse and request content
- Streaming playback
- Modern design
Olaris vs Reiverr: key differences
Olaris is written in Go, while Reiverr is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Olaris versus MIT for Reiverr. Reiverr is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Olaris. Olaris is the more established project (first released 2019), while Reiverr arrived in 2023. Reiverr has the considerably larger community, at 2,347 GitHub stars versus 300.
Why pick each one
Choose Olaris if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
Watch out for
- Development stalled
- Limited client apps
Choose Reiverr if…
- Single pane for media
- Clean modern UI
Watch out for
- Requires Jellyfin and *arr stack
- Younger project
Frequently asked questions
Is Olaris or Reiverr better?
Neither is universally better. Reiverr has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Olaris and Reiverr free and open-source?
Yes. Olaris is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Reiverr under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Olaris and Reiverr with Docker?
Olaris: yes. Reiverr: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Olaris or Reiverr?
Reiverr has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Olaris. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.