head to head · open source
PeerTube vs tvheadend
PeerTube has 15,322 GitHub stars, 1,848 forks, 692 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. tvheadend has 3,524 stars, 975 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. PeerTube leads on adoption by 335% (15,322 vs 3,524 stars). PeerTube is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; tvheadend is written in C under GPL-3.0. PeerTube has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, tvheadend 28%. PeerTube 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
| PeerTube | tvheadend | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 3.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 975 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PeerTube if
- You weight community size — 15K 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 PeerTube
PeerTube is free, decentralized, federated video platform. It uses ActivityPub federation, browser P2P, TypeScript codebase, AGPL 3.0 license. Project sits in open source media streaming and Fediverse ecosystem. Framasoft developed it as alternative to centralized video platforms such as YouTube, Dailymotion, and Vimeo.
read the full PeerTube overview →
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 PeerTube or tvheadend more popular?
PeerTube has 15,322 GitHub stars and tvheadend has 3,524. PeerTube has the larger community by that measure.
Are PeerTube and tvheadend free?
Both are open source. PeerTube is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and tvheadend under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PeerTube and tvheadend?
PeerTube 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, PeerTube or tvheadend?
Choose PeerTube if you want the larger community (15,322 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.