head to head · open source
Jellyfin vs novu
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars, 5,523 forks, 684 open issues and last shipped yesterday. novu has 40,002 stars, 4,494 forks, 105 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Jellyfin leads on adoption by 43% (57,244 vs 40,002 stars). Jellyfin is written in C# under GPL-2.0; novu is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Jellyfin has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, novu 11%. novu 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 | novu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 40K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | C# | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 4.5K |
| 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 novu if
- You want the novu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and novu 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 novu
Novu is an open source communication infrastructure platform for building and managing multi channel notifications in products and connecting them to AI agents. It lives in the Node.js/TypeScript ecosystem and targets developers who need to send and receive messages across email, SMS, push, in app inbox, chat, and collaboration tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jellyfin or novu more popular?
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars and novu has 40,002. Jellyfin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jellyfin and novu free?
Both are open source. Jellyfin is licensed under GPL-2.0, and novu has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Jellyfin and novu?
Jellyfin is written in C# and novu in TypeScript. 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 novu?
Choose Jellyfin if you want the larger community (57,244 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose novu if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.