Olaris vs Stash
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Stash
Self-hosted media organizer and server
| Feature | Olaris | Stash |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 300 | ★ 13,007 |
| First released | 2019 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Plex | Plex |
What are Olaris and Stash?
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
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
Olaris vs Stash: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Stash is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Olaris. Stash has the considerably larger community, at 13,007 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 Stash if…
- Powerful organization
- Extensible via plugins
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- Single-user focused
- Niche feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is Olaris or Stash better?
Stash is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Olaris if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Olaris and Stash free and open-source?
Yes. Olaris is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Stash under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Olaris and Stash with Docker?
Olaris: yes. Stash: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Olaris or Stash?
Stash has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Olaris. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.