head to head · open source
Jellyfin vs lms
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars, 5,523 forks, 684 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lms has 1,673 stars, 88 forks, 82 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Jellyfin leads on adoption by 3,322% (57,244 vs 1,673 stars). Jellyfin is written in C# under GPL-2.0; lms is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. Jellyfin has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, lms 5%. Jellyfin 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
| Jellyfin | lms | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C# | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 88 |
| 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 lms if
- You want the lms 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 lms 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 lms
LMS is a self hosted music streaming server written in C++ and licensed under GPL 3.0. It exposes a local music collection through a web interface, so users can access their music from anywhere.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jellyfin or lms more popular?
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars and lms has 1,673. Jellyfin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jellyfin and lms free?
Both are open source. Jellyfin is licensed under GPL-2.0 and lms under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Jellyfin and lms?
Jellyfin is written in C# and lms 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, Jellyfin or lms?
Choose Jellyfin if you want the larger community (57,244 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose lms if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.