head to head · open source
Invidious vs sonobus
Invidious has 25,830 GitHub stars, 2,896 forks, 480 open issues and last shipped yesterday. sonobus has 2,227 stars, 190 forks, 195 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Invidious leads on adoption by 1,060% (25,830 vs 2,227 stars). Invidious is written in Crystal under AGPL-3.0; sonobus is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. Invidious has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, sonobus 9%. Invidious 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 | sonobus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Crystal | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 190 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Invidious if
- You weight community size — 26K 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 sonobus if
- You want the sonobus 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 sonobus fits your workflow better
About Invidious
Invidious An open source alternative front end to YouTube Website • Instances list • FAQ • Documentation • Contribute • Donate Chat with us: Screenshots Features User features Lightweight No ads No tracking No JavaScript required Light/Dark themes Customizable homepage Subscriptions independent from Google Notifications for all subscribed channels Audio only mode (with background play on mobile) Support for Reddit comments Available in many languages, thanks to our translators Data import/export Import subscriptions from YouTube, NewPipe and FreeTube Import watch history from YouTube and NewPipe Export…
read the full Invidious overview →
About sonobus
SonoBus SonoBus is an easy to use application for streaming high quality, low latency peer to peer audio between devices over the internet or a local network. Simply choose a unique group name (with optional password), and instantly connect multiple people together to make music, remote sessions, podcasts, etc. Easily record the audio from everyone, as well as playback any audio content to the whole group. Connects multiple users together to send and receive audio among all in a group, with fine grained control over latency, quality and overall mix. Includes optional input compression, noise gate, and EQ…
read the full sonobus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Invidious or sonobus more popular?
Invidious has 25,830 GitHub stars and sonobus has 2,227. Invidious has the larger community by that measure.
Are Invidious and sonobus free?
Both are open source. Invidious is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and sonobus under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Invidious and sonobus?
Invidious is written in Crystal and sonobus 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, Invidious or sonobus?
Choose Invidious if you want the larger community (25,830 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose sonobus if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.