head to head · open source
Jellyfin vs tunarr
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars, 5,523 forks, 684 open issues and last shipped yesterday. tunarr has 2,579 stars, 130 forks, 206 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Jellyfin leads on adoption by 2,120% (57,244 vs 2,579 stars). Jellyfin is written in C# under GPL-2.0; tunarr is written in TypeScript under Zlib. Jellyfin has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, tunarr 5%. tunarr was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (jellyfin), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | tunarr | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Zlib |
| Written in | C# | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 130 |
| 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 tunarr if
- You want the tunarr feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and tunarr 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 tunarr
Tunarr is a self hosted media streaming project written in TypeScript and released under the Zlib license. It creates custom live TV channels from existing media libraries, including Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, and local files. The project lives in the self hosted IPTV and local media streaming ecosystem, where users want their media servers and media players to present a broadcast style channel lineup.
read the full tunarr overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jellyfin or tunarr more popular?
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars and tunarr has 2,579. Jellyfin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jellyfin and tunarr free?
Both are open source. Jellyfin is licensed under GPL-2.0 and tunarr under Zlib. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Jellyfin and tunarr?
Jellyfin is written in C# and tunarr 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 tunarr?
Choose Jellyfin if you want the larger community (57,244 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose tunarr if its feature set, stack or Zlib licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.