head to head · open source
neko vs tvheadend
neko has 22,315 GitHub stars, 1,628 forks, 151 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. tvheadend has 3,521 stars, 975 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. neko leads on adoption by 534% (22,315 vs 3,521 stars). neko is written in Go under Apache-2.0; tvheadend is written in C under GPL-3.0. neko has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, tvheadend 28%. tvheadend 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
| neko | tvheadend | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 22K | ★ 3.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-10 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 975 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick neko if
- You weight community size — 22K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick tvheadend if
- You want the tvheadend feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and tvheadend fits your workflow better
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.
About tvheadend
Tvheadend is an open source TV streaming server and digital video recorder for Linux. It lives in the Linux media and streaming ecosystem, and it is written in C under the GPL 3.0 license. The project provides a server that can receive television signals and streams from many input types, then make those channels available over the network.
read the full tvheadend overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is neko or tvheadend more popular?
neko has 22,315 GitHub stars and tvheadend has 3,521. neko has the larger community by that measure.
Are neko and tvheadend free?
Both are open source. neko is licensed under Apache-2.0 and tvheadend under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between neko and tvheadend?
neko is written in Go and tvheadend 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, neko or tvheadend?
Choose neko if you want the larger community (22,315 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose tvheadend if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.