head to head · open source
Jellyfin vs Invidious
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars, 5,523 forks, 684 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Invidious has 24,469 stars, 2,746 forks, 480 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Jellyfin leads on adoption by 134% (57,244 vs 24,469 stars). Jellyfin is written in C# under GPL-2.0; Invidious is written in Crystal under AGPL-3.0. Jellyfin has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Invidious 11%. Jellyfin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (hacktoberfest), 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
| Jellyfin | Invidious | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 24K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C# | Crystal |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Jellyfin if
- You weight community size — 57K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Invidious if
- You want the Invidious feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Crystal
- You evaluated both and Invidious fits your workflow better
About Jellyfin
Jellyfin is a free and open source media server that lets an individual or an organisation manage and stream their own movies, music, and other media from a dedicated server to end user devices through multiple client apps.
read the full Jellyfin overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jellyfin or Invidious more popular?
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars and Invidious has 24,469. Jellyfin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jellyfin and Invidious free?
Both are open source. Jellyfin is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Invidious under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Jellyfin and Invidious?
Jellyfin is written in C# and Invidious in Crystal. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Jellyfin or Invidious?
Choose Jellyfin if you want the larger community (57,244 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Invidious if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.