PeerTube vs ympd

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?
FeaturePeerTubeympd
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseAGPL-3.0GPL-2.0
LanguageTypeScriptC
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metalbare-metal, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 15,236★ 544
First released20182014
ReplacesYouTube, VimeoSonos app

Why pick each one

Choose PeerTube if…

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

Choose ympd if…

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Easy to deploy
ympd details

Frequently asked questions

Is PeerTube or ympd better?

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

Are PeerTube and ympd free and open-source?

Yes. PeerTube is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and ympd under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run PeerTube and ympd with Docker?

PeerTube: yes. ympd: check the project docs for container support.

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