head to head · open source
Invidious vs Nuclear
Invidious has 24,555 GitHub stars, 2,761 forks, 480 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Nuclear has 18,480 stars, 1,327 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped today. Invidious leads on adoption by 33% (24,555 vs 18,480 stars). Invidious is written in Crystal under AGPL-3.0; Nuclear is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Invidious has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Nuclear 7%. Nuclear 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
| Invidious | Nuclear | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 18K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Crystal | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.8K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Invidious if
- You weight community size — 25K 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 Nuclear if
- You want the Nuclear feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Nuclear 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 Nuclear
Nuclear is a free, open source music player for Windows, macOS, and Linux that streams music from multiple sources without ads or tracking. The project lives in the desktop music player ecosystem and is written primarily in TypeScript, with a Tauri application built from Rust and React. It is distributed under the AGPL 3.0 license.
read the full Nuclear overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Invidious or Nuclear more popular?
Invidious has 24,555 GitHub stars and Nuclear has 18,480. Invidious has the larger community by that measure.
Are Invidious and Nuclear free?
Both are open source. Invidious is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Nuclear under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Invidious and Nuclear?
Invidious is written in Crystal and Nuclear in TypeScript. 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 Nuclear?
Choose Invidious if you want the larger community (24,555 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Nuclear if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.