SHSelfHostIndex

Polaris vs Tempo

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?
PO Polaris Music streaming server focused on speed and simplicity VS TE Tempo Material You Subsonic music client for Android
FeaturePolarisTempo
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseMITGPL-3.0
LanguageRustJava
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM128 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, bare-metalbinary, source
GitHub stars★ 2,715★ 2,220
First released20172022
ReplacesSpotifySpotify, Plexamp

Why pick each one

Choose Polaris if…

  • Low resource usage
  • Single binary deployment
Polaris details

Choose Tempo if…

  • Modern Android design
  • Works with multiple servers
Tempo details

Frequently asked questions

Is Polaris or Tempo better?

Neither is universally better. Polaris has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Polaris and Tempo free and open-source?

Yes. Polaris is licensed under MIT and Tempo under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Polaris and Tempo with Docker?

Polaris: yes. Tempo: check the project docs for container support.

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