head to head · open source
Jellyfin vs neko
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars, 5,523 forks, 684 open issues and last shipped yesterday. neko has 22,315 stars, 1,628 forks, 151 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Jellyfin leads on adoption by 157% (57,244 vs 22,315 stars). Jellyfin is written in C# under GPL-2.0; neko is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Jellyfin has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, neko 7%. 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 | neko | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 22K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C# | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| 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 neko if
- You want the neko feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and neko 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 neko
Neko is a self hosted virtual browser that runs inside a Docker container and streams its desktop to several people at once over WebRTC, built for developers testing web applications, privacy conscious users, and teams who want to browse, watch or present together in one shared session.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jellyfin or neko more popular?
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars and neko has 22,315. Jellyfin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jellyfin and neko free?
Both are open source. Jellyfin is licensed under GPL-2.0 and neko under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Jellyfin and neko?
Jellyfin is written in C# and neko in Go. 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 neko?
Choose Jellyfin if you want the larger community (57,244 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose neko if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.