head to head · open source
go2rtc vs smolrtsp
go2rtc has 14,556 GitHub stars, 1,461 forks, 928 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. smolrtsp has 511 stars, 119 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. go2rtc leads on adoption by 2,749% (14,556 vs 511 stars). go2rtc is written in Go under MIT; smolrtsp is written in C under MIT. go2rtc has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, smolrtsp 23%. go2rtc was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (media-server), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| go2rtc | smolrtsp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 511 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-26 | 2026-09-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 119 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick go2rtc if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick smolrtsp if
- You want the smolrtsp feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and smolrtsp fits your workflow better
About go2rtc
Ultimate camera streaming application with support for dozens formats and protocols. zero dependency small app for all OS (Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD) zero delay for many supported protocols (lowest possible streaming latency) streaming input from dozens formats and protocols streaming output in all popular formats streaming ingest in a number of popular formats publish any source to popular streaming services (YouTube, Telegram) on the fly transcoding only if necessary via FFmpeg two way audio support for many formats streaming audio to all cameras with two way audio support mixing tracks from different…
read the full go2rtc overview →
About smolrtsp
SmolRTSP SmolRTSP is a simple [RTSP 1.0] server library tailored for embedded devices, such as IP cameras. It supports both TCP and UDP, allows any payload format, and provides a convenient and flexible API. [RTSP 1.0]: Highlights Small. SmolRTSP is designed for use in embedded systems (e.g., IP cameras). Unopinionated. You can use SmolRTSP with bare POSIX sockets, [libevent], or any other network framework. Zero copy. SmolRTSP does not allocate or copy data while parsing. Battle tested. SmolRTSP is used by [Majestic], an IP camera streamer developed by [OpenIPC]. [libevent]: [array slices]: [Majestic]…
read the full smolrtsp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is go2rtc or smolrtsp more popular?
go2rtc has 14,556 GitHub stars and smolrtsp has 511. go2rtc has the larger community by that measure.
Are go2rtc and smolrtsp free?
Both are open source. go2rtc is licensed under MIT and smolrtsp under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between go2rtc and smolrtsp?
go2rtc is written in Go and smolrtsp 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, go2rtc or smolrtsp?
Choose go2rtc if you want the larger community (14,556 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose smolrtsp if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.