head to head · open source
mediamtx vs smolrtsp
mediamtx has 20,170 GitHub stars, 2,374 forks, 188 open issues and last shipped yesterday. smolrtsp has 508 stars, 118 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. mediamtx leads on adoption by 3,870% (20,170 vs 508 stars). mediamtx is written in Go under MIT; smolrtsp is written in C under MIT. mediamtx has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, smolrtsp 23%. mediamtx was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (media-server, rtp), 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
| mediamtx | smolrtsp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 20K | ★ 508 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 118 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mediamtx if
- You weight community size — 20K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick smolrtsp if
- You want the smolrtsp feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and smolrtsp fits your workflow better
About mediamtx
MediaMTX is a ready to use, zero dependency live media server and media proxy written in Go, aimed at anyone who needs to publish, read, proxy, record and play back real time video and audio streams across many protocols without standing up a heavy media platform.
read the full mediamtx overview →
About smolrtsp
SmolRTSP is a small MIT licensed C library that implements an RTSP 1.0 server for embedded devices such as IP cameras, aimed at firmware and camera platform developers who need to serve live video and audio from constrained hardware.
read the full smolrtsp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is mediamtx or smolrtsp more popular?
mediamtx has 20,170 GitHub stars and smolrtsp has 508. mediamtx has the larger community by that measure.
Are mediamtx and smolrtsp free?
Both are open source. mediamtx is licensed under MIT and smolrtsp under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mediamtx and smolrtsp?
mediamtx is written in Go and smolrtsp 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, mediamtx or smolrtsp?
Choose mediamtx if you want the larger community (20,170 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose smolrtsp if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.