head to head · open source
Jellyfin vs waterfox
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars, 5,523 forks, 684 open issues and last shipped yesterday. waterfox has 6,291 stars, 431 forks, 332 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Jellyfin leads on adoption by 810% (57,244 vs 6,291 stars). Jellyfin is written in C# under GPL-2.0; waterfox is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Jellyfin has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, waterfox 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Jellyfin | waterfox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 6.3K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | C# | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 431 |
| 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 waterfox if
- You want the waterfox feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and waterfox 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 waterfox
Waterfox is an open source web browser built on Mozilla Firefox, with source code maintained in this repository. The project describes itself as a customisable browser based on the Mozilla Firefox codebase, and the tree contains both the upstream Mozilla platform code and the Waterfox specific product layer that sits on top of it. It lives in the JavaScript and Gecko browser ecosystem, sharing the rendering engine, build system and testing tooling that Mozilla maintains for Firefox. The browser is distributed to end users through the project's own website, while the source distribution here targets people who wan…
read the full waterfox overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Media & Streaming projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Media & Streaming field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Jellyfin or waterfox more popular?
Jellyfin has 57,244 GitHub stars and waterfox has 6,291. Jellyfin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jellyfin and waterfox free?
Both are open source. Jellyfin is licensed under GPL-2.0, and waterfox has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Jellyfin and waterfox?
Jellyfin is written in C# and waterfox in JavaScript. 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 waterfox?
Choose Jellyfin if you want the larger community (57,244 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose waterfox if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.