head to head · open source
Jellyfin vs swingmusic
Jellyfin has 58,942 GitHub stars, 5,757 forks, 684 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. swingmusic has 2,087 stars, 143 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped 29 days ago. Jellyfin leads on adoption by 2,724% (58,942 vs 2,087 stars). Jellyfin is written in C# under GPL-2.0; swingmusic is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. Jellyfin has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, swingmusic 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 | swingmusic | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 59K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C# | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-10-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 143 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Jellyfin if
- You weight community size — 59K 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 swingmusic if
- You want the swingmusic feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and swingmusic fits your workflow better
About Jellyfin
Jellyfin The Free Software Media System Jellyfin is a Free Software Media System that puts you in control of managing and streaming your media. It is an alternative to the proprietary Emby and Plex, to provide media from a dedicated server to end user devices via multiple apps. Jellyfin is descended from Emby's 3.5.2 release and ported to the .NET platform to enable full cross platform support. There are no strings attached, no premium licenses or features, and no hidden agendas: just a team that wants to build something better and work together to achieve it. We welcome anyone who is interested in joining us in…
read the full Jellyfin overview →
About swingmusic
Swing Music Download • Get Android Client • Sponsor Us ❤️ • Docs • Screenshots • r/SwingMusicApp Swing Music is a blazingly fast and beautiful, self hosted music streaming server. Like a cooler Spotify ... but bring your own music. Features Daily Mixes curated everyday based on your listening activity Metadata normalization a clean and consistent library Album versioning normalized albums and association with version labels (eg. Deluxe, Remaster, etc) Related artist and albums Folder view Browse your music library by folders Beautiful browser based UI Silence detection Combine cross fade with silence detection…
read the full swingmusic overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jellyfin or swingmusic more popular?
Jellyfin has 58,942 GitHub stars and swingmusic has 2,087. Jellyfin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jellyfin and swingmusic free?
Both are open source. Jellyfin is licensed under GPL-2.0 and swingmusic under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Jellyfin and swingmusic?
Jellyfin is written in C# and swingmusic in Python. 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 swingmusic?
Choose Jellyfin if you want the larger community (58,942 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose swingmusic if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.