head to head · open source
Kodi vs MovieBox-Tui
Kodi has 21,229 GitHub stars, 6,598 forks, 466 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MovieBox-Tui has 2,029 stars, 216 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Kodi leads on adoption by 946% (21,229 vs 2,029 stars). Kodi is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence; MovieBox-Tui is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. Kodi has attracted 31% as many forks as stars, MovieBox-Tui 11%. Kodi 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
| Kodi | MovieBox-Tui | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 216 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kodi if
- You weight community size — 21K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick MovieBox-Tui if
- You want the MovieBox-Tui feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and MovieBox-Tui fits your workflow better
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.
About MovieBox-Tui
MovieBox Tui is a Rust terminal user interface for finding, downloading, and streaming movies, TV shows, anime, and live television. It lives in the command line media ecosystem, using ratatui and local players such as mpv, IINA, VLC, or Android video players. The project gives users one keyboard driven workspace for searching titles, browsing providers, importing IPTV playlists, and launching playback.
read the full MovieBox-Tui overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kodi or MovieBox-Tui more popular?
Kodi has 21,229 GitHub stars and MovieBox-Tui has 2,029. Kodi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kodi and MovieBox-Tui free?
Both are open source. Kodi has no licence declared in this registry, and MovieBox-Tui is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Kodi and MovieBox-Tui?
Kodi is written in C++ and MovieBox-Tui in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Kodi or MovieBox-Tui?
Choose Kodi if you want the larger community (21,229 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose MovieBox-Tui if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.