Owncast vs PeerTube

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?
FeatureOwncastPeerTube
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageGoTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM256 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 11,445★ 15,236
First released20202018
ReplacesTwitchYouTube, Vimeo

Why pick each one

Choose Owncast if…

  • Own your live stream
  • Simple single-binary deploy
  • Built-in chat
Owncast details

Choose PeerTube if…

  • Reduces bandwidth via P2P
  • Federates with the Fediverse
PeerTube details

Frequently asked questions

Is Owncast or PeerTube better?

Neither is universally better. PeerTube has the larger community, while Owncast is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Owncast and PeerTube free and open-source?

Yes. Owncast is licensed under MIT and PeerTube under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Owncast and PeerTube with Docker?

Owncast: yes. PeerTube: yes.

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