head to head · open source
Invidious vs Kodi
Invidious has 24,469 GitHub stars, 2,746 forks, 480 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Kodi has 21,229 stars, 6,598 forks, 466 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Invidious leads on adoption by 15% (24,469 vs 21,229 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 | ★ 24K | ★ 21K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Crystal | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 6.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Invidious if
- You weight community size — 24K 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 is an open source, AGPL 3.0 alternative front end to YouTube, written in Crystal, aimed at people who want to watch videos without ads, tracking, or a Google account.
read the full Invidious overview →
About Kodi
Kodi is a free and open source home theater and media center application, also described as an entertainment hub for digital media. It is written mainly in C++ and distributed as a native application for Android, BSD, Linux, macOS, iOS, tvOS, and Windows, with support for many common processor architectures. The project began in 2003 and is run by the XBMC Foundation, with development and support carried out by volunteers worldwide.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Invidious or Kodi more popular?
Invidious has 24,469 GitHub stars and Kodi has 21,229. 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 (24,469 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.