head to head · open source
Invidious vs Kodi
Invidious has 25,830 GitHub stars, 2,896 forks, 480 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kodi has 21,422 stars, 6,655 forks, 466 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Invidious leads on adoption by 21% (25,830 vs 21,422 stars). Invidious is written in Crystal under AGPL-3.0; Kodi is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence. Invidious has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Kodi 31%. Kodi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (hacktoberfest), 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
| Invidious | Kodi | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 21K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Crystal | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 6.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Invidious if
- You weight community size — 26K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Crystal
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Kodi if
- You want the Kodi feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Kodi fits your workflow better
About Invidious
Invidious An open source alternative front end to YouTube Website • Instances list • FAQ • Documentation • Contribute • Donate Chat with us: Screenshots Features User features Lightweight No ads No tracking No JavaScript required Light/Dark themes Customizable homepage Subscriptions independent from Google Notifications for all subscribed channels Audio only mode (with background play on mobile) Support for Reddit comments Available in many languages, thanks to our translators Data import/export Import subscriptions from YouTube, NewPipe and FreeTube Import watch history from YouTube and NewPipe Export…
read the full Invidious overview →
About Kodi
website • docs • community • add ons Welcome to Kodi Home Theater Software! Kodi is an award winning free and open source software media player and entertainment hub for digital media. Available as a native application for Android, Linux, BSD, macOS, iOS, tvOS and Windows operating systems , Kodi runs on most common processor architectures. Created in 2003 by a group of like minded programmers, Kodi is a non profit project run by the XBMC Foundation and developed by volunteers located around the world. More than 500 software developers have contributed to Kodi to date, and 100 plus translators have worked to…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Invidious or Kodi more popular?
Invidious has 25,830 GitHub stars and Kodi has 21,422. Invidious has the larger community by that measure.
Are Invidious and Kodi free?
Both are open source. Invidious is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Kodi has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Invidious and Kodi?
Invidious is written in Crystal and Kodi in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Invidious or Kodi?
Choose Invidious if you want the larger community (25,830 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Kodi if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.