Olaris vs Stremio Web
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Olaris | Stremio Web |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 300 | ★ 13,954 |
| First released | 2019 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Plex | Plex |
What are Olaris and Stremio Web?
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
Stremio Web
Stremio Web is the open-source web interface for Stremio, a modular media center that organizes movies, series, and other content through add-ons. The web app can be self-hosted to run a private instance in any browser.
- Add-on based content sources
- Runs entirely in the browser
- Library and progress tracking
- Self-hostable instance
Olaris vs Stremio Web: key differences
Olaris is written in Go, while Stremio Web is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Olaris versus GPL-2.0 for Stremio Web. Stremio Web is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Olaris. Stremio Web is the more established project (first released 2017), while Olaris arrived in 2019. Stremio Web has the considerably larger community, at 13,954 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 Stremio Web if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 14k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Olaris or Stremio Web better?
Neither is universally better. Stremio Web has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Olaris and Stremio Web free and open-source?
Yes. Olaris is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Stremio Web under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Olaris and Stremio Web with Docker?
Olaris: yes. Stremio Web: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Olaris or Stremio Web?
Stremio Web 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.