head to head · open source
Nuclear vs tvheadend
Nuclear has 18,865 GitHub stars, 1,357 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped yesterday. tvheadend has 3,572 stars, 993 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Nuclear leads on adoption by 428% (18,865 vs 3,572 stars). Nuclear is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; tvheadend is written in C under GPL-3.0. Nuclear has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, tvheadend 28%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Nuclear | tvheadend | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 993 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Nuclear if
- You weight community size — 19K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- 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 Nuclear
Nuclear Nuclear is a free, open source music player without ads or tracking. Search for any song or artist, build playlists, and start listening. Runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Screenshots Nuclear comes with multiple built in themes: Download Grab the latest release for your platform from the Releases page. Features Search for music and stream it from any source Browse artist pages with biographies, discographies, and similar artists Browse album pages with track listings Queue management with shuffle, repeat, and drag and drop reordering Favorites (albums, artists, and tracks) Playlists (create, import…
read the full Nuclear overview →
About tvheadend
Tvheadend ========= Tvheadend is the leading TV streaming server and Digital Video Recorder for Linux. It supports the following inputs: ATSC DVB C(2) DVB S(2) DVB T(2) HDHomeRun IPTV UDP HTTP SAT IP Unix Pipe It supports the following outputs: HTSP (native protocol) HTTP SAT IP Documentation Tvheadend documentation can be found here: Support Please triage issues and ask questions in the forum: or use the hts IRC channel on Libera.Chat to speak with project staff: Please report triaged bugs via GitHub Issues. Building for Linux First you need to configure: $ ./configure If build dependencies are missing the…
read the full tvheadend overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Media & Streaming projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Media & Streaming field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Nuclear or tvheadend more popular?
Nuclear has 18,865 GitHub stars and tvheadend has 3,572. Nuclear has the larger community by that measure.
Are Nuclear and tvheadend free?
Both are open source. Nuclear is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and tvheadend under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Nuclear and tvheadend?
Nuclear is written in TypeScript 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, Nuclear or tvheadend?
Choose Nuclear if you want the larger community (18,865 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose tvheadend if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.