head to head · open source
Navidrome vs neko
Navidrome has 23,632 GitHub stars, 1,708 forks, 275 open issues and last shipped yesterday. neko has 22,315 stars, 1,628 forks, 151 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Navidrome leads on adoption by 6% (23,632 vs 22,315 stars). Navidrome is written in Go under GPL-3.0; neko is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Navidrome has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, neko 7%. Navidrome was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (self-hosted), 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
| Navidrome | neko | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 22K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Navidrome if
- You weight community size — 24K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick neko if
- You want the neko feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and neko fits your workflow better
About Navidrome
Navidrome is an open source, web based music collection server and streamer written in Go and released under the GPL 3.0 license. It lives in the self hosted media server ecosystem and is intended for users who want to listen to a personal music collection from a browser or mobile device.
read the full Navidrome overview →
About neko
Neko is a self hosted virtual browser that runs inside a Docker container and streams its desktop to several people at once over WebRTC, built for developers testing web applications, privacy conscious users, and teams who want to browse, watch or present together in one shared session.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Navidrome or neko more popular?
Navidrome has 23,632 GitHub stars and neko has 22,315. Navidrome has the larger community by that measure.
Are Navidrome and neko free?
Both are open source. Navidrome is licensed under GPL-3.0 and neko under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Navidrome and neko?
Navidrome is written in Go and neko in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Navidrome or neko?
Choose Navidrome if you want the larger community (23,632 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose neko if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.