head to head · open source
Anthias vs tvheadend
Anthias has 3,674 GitHub stars, 726 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped yesterday. tvheadend has 3,524 stars, 975 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. Anthias leads on adoption by 4% (3,674 vs 3,524 stars). Anthias is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; tvheadend is written in C under GPL-3.0. Anthias has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, tvheadend 28%. Anthias was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Anthias | tvheadend | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.7K | ★ 3.5K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 726 | ⑂ 975 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Anthias if
- You weight community size — 3.7K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick tvheadend if
- You want the tvheadend feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and tvheadend fits your workflow better
About Anthias
Anthias is an open source digital signage platform for Raspberry Pi devices and PCs, written in Python and distributed under a NOASSERTION license. It was formerly known as Screenly OSE and was rebranded to Anthias to clear up the confusion between Screenly, the paid version, and this open source project. The repository carries the topics digital signage, iot, python, and raspberry pi, and the project describes itself as the world's most popular open source digital signage project. It lives in the Raspberry Pi and single board computer ecosystem, with a hosted website and documentation at anthias.screenly.io.…
read the full Anthias overview →
About tvheadend
Tvheadend is an open source TV streaming server and digital video recorder for Linux. It lives in the Linux media and streaming ecosystem, and it is written in C under the GPL 3.0 license. The project provides a server that can receive television signals and streams from many input types, then make those channels available over the network.
read the full tvheadend overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Anthias or tvheadend more popular?
Anthias has 3,674 GitHub stars and tvheadend has 3,524. Anthias has the larger community by that measure.
Are Anthias and tvheadend free?
Both are open source. Anthias has no licence declared in this registry, and tvheadend is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Anthias and tvheadend?
Anthias is written in Python and tvheadend in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Anthias or tvheadend?
Choose Anthias if you want the larger community (3,674 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose tvheadend if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.