Stash vs tinyMediaManager
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
tinyMediaManager
Metadata manager and organizer for movie and TV libraries
| Feature | Stash | tinyMediaManager |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 0 · At risk |
| Category | Media Servers | Media Servers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,007 | ★ 8 |
| First released | 2019 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Plex | Plex |
What are Stash and tinyMediaManager?
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
tinyMediaManager
tinyMediaManager is a media library manager that scrapes metadata, artwork, and trailers for movies and TV shows so files are organized for Kodi, Plex, or Jellyfin. It can rename, clean up, and enrich large collections in bulk.
- Metadata and artwork scraping
- Bulk file renaming
- Kodi and Plex NFO export
- Trailer downloads
Stash vs tinyMediaManager: key differences
Stash is written in Go, while tinyMediaManager is built with Java. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Stash versus Apache-2.0 for tinyMediaManager. Stash is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for tinyMediaManager. TinyMediaManager is the more established project (first released 2012), while Stash arrived in 2019. Stash has the considerably larger community, at 13,007 GitHub stars versus 8.
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 tinyMediaManager if…
- Excellent organization tools
- Headless mode available
Watch out for
- Advanced features need a license
- Not a streaming server
Frequently asked questions
Is Stash or tinyMediaManager 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 tinyMediaManager free and open-source?
Yes. Stash is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and tinyMediaManager under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Stash and tinyMediaManager with Docker?
Stash: yes. tinyMediaManager: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Stash or tinyMediaManager?
Stash has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for tinyMediaManager. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.