head to head · open source
Invidious vs Ghosten-Player
Invidious has 24,469 GitHub stars, 2,746 forks, 480 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Ghosten-Player has 3,294 stars, 201 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Invidious leads on adoption by 643% (24,469 vs 3,294 stars). Invidious is written in Crystal under AGPL-3.0; Ghosten-Player is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0. Invidious has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Ghosten-Player 6%. Ghosten-Player 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
| Invidious | Ghosten-Player | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Crystal | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 201 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Invidious if
- You weight community size — 24K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Crystal
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Ghosten-Player if
- You want the Ghosten-Player feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and Ghosten-Player fits your workflow better
About Invidious
Invidious is an open source, AGPL 3.0 alternative front end to YouTube, written in Crystal, aimed at people who want to watch videos without ads, tracking, or a Google account.
read the full Invidious overview →
About Ghosten-Player
Ghosten Player is a Flutter based video player for Android phone, pad, and TV, with Windows and macOS support in development. It is a Dart app under AGPL 3.0 in the Android media and streaming ecosystem. The project gathers video resources into a local private media library instead of requiring a hosted backend.
read the full Ghosten-Player overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Invidious or Ghosten-Player more popular?
Invidious has 24,469 GitHub stars and Ghosten-Player has 3,294. Invidious has the larger community by that measure.
Are Invidious and Ghosten-Player free?
Both are open source. Invidious is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Ghosten-Player under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Invidious and Ghosten-Player?
Invidious is written in Crystal and Ghosten-Player in Dart. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Invidious or Ghosten-Player?
Choose Invidious if you want the larger community (24,469 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Ghosten-Player if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.