head to head · open source
Jellyfin vs Nuclear
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars, 5,523 forks, 684 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Nuclear has 18,468 stars, 1,327 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Jellyfin leads on adoption by 210% (57,244 vs 18,468 stars). Jellyfin is written in C# under GPL-2.0; Nuclear is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Jellyfin has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Nuclear 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 | Nuclear | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 18K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C# | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| 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 Nuclear if
- You want the Nuclear feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Nuclear 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 Nuclear
Nuclear is a free, open source music player for Windows, macOS, and Linux that streams music from multiple sources without ads or tracking. The project lives in the desktop music player ecosystem and is written primarily in TypeScript, with a Tauri application built from Rust and React. It is distributed under the AGPL 3.0 license.
read the full Nuclear overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jellyfin or Nuclear more popular?
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars and Nuclear has 18,468. Jellyfin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jellyfin and Nuclear free?
Both are open source. Jellyfin is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Nuclear under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Jellyfin and Nuclear?
Jellyfin is written in C# and Nuclear 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 Nuclear?
Choose Jellyfin if you want the larger community (57,244 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Nuclear if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.