Prowlarr vs Tube Archivist
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?
Prowlarr
Complete management of your indexers for Radarr, Sonarr, Lidarr
VS
Tube Archivist
Self-hosted YouTube media server with metadata and search
| Feature | Prowlarr | Tube Archivist |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0-only | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C# | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 50 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,979 | ★ 8,342 |
| First released | 2023 | 2021 |
| Replaces | — | YouTube |
Why pick each one
Choose Prowlarr if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0-only license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 7k GitHub stars
- Written in C#
Frequently asked questions
Is Prowlarr or Tube Archivist better?
Neither is universally better. Tube Archivist has the larger community, while Prowlarr is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Prowlarr and Tube Archivist free and open-source?
Yes. Prowlarr is licensed under GPL-3.0-only and Tube Archivist under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Prowlarr and Tube Archivist with Docker?
Prowlarr: check the project docs for container support. Tube Archivist: yes.