head to head · open source
go2rtc vs smolrtsp
go2rtc has 14,208 GitHub stars, 1,323 forks, 928 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. smolrtsp has 508 stars, 118 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. go2rtc leads on adoption by 2,697% (14,208 vs 508 stars). go2rtc is written in Go under MIT; smolrtsp is written in C under MIT. go2rtc has attracted 9% 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 | ★ 14K | ★ 508 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 118 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick go2rtc if
- You weight community size — 14K 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
go2rtc is a camera streaming application written in Go and released under the MIT license. It runs as a zero dependency binary on Windows, macOS, Linux, and FreeBSD, and it also ships as a Docker image, a Home Assistant add on, and a Home Assistant integration. The project lives in the smart home and media server ecosystem, with topics spanning Home Assistant, HomeKit, ONVIF, RTSP, RTMP, HLS, MJPEG, MP4, and FFmpeg. It can be embedded into another project through its HTTP API or run as a standalone application with a web interface at http://localhost:1984/ .
read the full go2rtc overview →
About smolrtsp
SmolRTSP is a small MIT licensed C library that implements an RTSP 1.0 server for embedded devices such as IP cameras, aimed at firmware and camera platform developers who need to serve live video and audio from constrained hardware.
read the full smolrtsp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is go2rtc or smolrtsp more popular?
go2rtc has 14,208 GitHub stars and smolrtsp has 508. 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 (14,208 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose smolrtsp if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.