head to head · open source
streama vs UniversalMediaServer
streama has 9,820 GitHub stars, 977 forks, 352 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. UniversalMediaServer has 2,668 stars, 526 forks, 405 open issues and last shipped yesterday. streama leads on adoption by 268% (9,820 vs 2,668 stars). streama is written in JavaScript under MIT; UniversalMediaServer is written in Java under GPL-2.0. streama has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, UniversalMediaServer 20%. UniversalMediaServer was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (media-server), 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
| streama | UniversalMediaServer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.8K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-26 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 977 | ⑂ 526 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick streama if
- You weight community size — 9.8K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick UniversalMediaServer if
- You want the UniversalMediaServer feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and UniversalMediaServer fits your workflow better
About streama
STREAMA Docs: Ever had a huge bookshelf full of shows and movies? Ever wanted to digitalize them, but didn't have a good way of organizing the files? Worry no more! Streama is your own personal Netflix for just such a purpose! Live Demo credentials: username: demoUser password: demoUser Feel free to play around there as much as you like (everything is reset at night) We will keep this demo updated with our newest releases as they come, so that you can check out new features there first before deciding to deploy them in your own environments. Donate If you want to donate to the developer via bitcoin use…
read the full streama overview →
About UniversalMediaServer
Universal Media Server [ ][1] Universal Media Server is a DLNA, UPnP and HTTP/S Media Server. It is capable of sharing video, audio and images between most modern devices. It was originally based on PS3 Media Server by shagrath, in order to ensure greater stability and file compatibility. Universal Media Server supports all major operating systems, with versions for Windows, Linux and macOS. The program streams or transcodes many different media formats with little or no configuration. It is powered by [FFmpeg][27], [MediaInfo][28], [Crowdin][29], [MEncoder][26], tsMuxeR, AviSynth, VLC, and more, which combine…
read the full UniversalMediaServer overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is streama or UniversalMediaServer more popular?
streama has 9,820 GitHub stars and UniversalMediaServer has 2,668. streama has the larger community by that measure.
Are streama and UniversalMediaServer free?
Both are open source. streama is licensed under MIT and UniversalMediaServer under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between streama and UniversalMediaServer?
streama is written in JavaScript and UniversalMediaServer in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, streama or UniversalMediaServer?
Choose streama if you want the larger community (9,820 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose UniversalMediaServer if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.