Stash vs Tautulli
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Stash
Self-hosted media organizer and server
VS
Tautulli
Monitoring and analytics for Plex media servers
| Feature | Stash | Tautulli |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 91 · Excellent |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,007 | ★ 6,590 |
| First released | 2019 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Plex | Plex |
What are Stash and Tautulli?
Stash
Stash is a self-hosted media organizer that catalogs video and image collections with rich metadata, tagging, and scraping. It targets users who want a deeply organized personal media archive. It is deployed via Docker or a single binary.
- Rich metadata and tagging
- Scraper and plugin system
- Built-in web player
- SQLite-backed storage
Tautulli
Tautulli is a monitoring and tracking tool for Plex that provides detailed statistics, history, and notifications. It targets Plex administrators who want insight into usage. It is deployed via Docker or a Python install.
- Detailed Plex usage statistics
- Watch history and graphs
- Rich notification agents
- Newsletter generation
Stash vs Tautulli: key differences
Stash is written in Go, while Tautulli is built with Python. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Stash versus GPL-3.0 for Tautulli. Tautulli is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Stash. Tautulli is the more established project (first released 2015), while Stash arrived in 2019.
Why pick each one
Choose Stash if…
- Powerful organization
- Extensible via plugins
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- Single-user focused
- Niche feature set
Choose Tautulli if…
- Great Plex insights
- Flexible notifications
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Plex only
- Companion tool, not a server
Frequently asked questions
Is Stash or Tautulli better?
Neither is universally better. Stash has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Stash and Tautulli free and open-source?
Yes. Stash is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Tautulli under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Stash and Tautulli with Docker?
Stash: yes. Tautulli: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Stash or Tautulli?
Tautulli has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Stash. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.