head to head · open source
tubearchivist vs Pulsarr
tubearchivist has 8,451 GitHub stars, 420 forks, 25 open issues and last shipped 21 days ago. Pulsarr has 744 stars, 14 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped yesterday. tubearchivist leads on adoption by 1,036% (8,451 vs 744 stars). tubearchivist is written in Python under GPL-3.0; Pulsarr is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. tubearchivist has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Pulsarr 2%. Pulsarr 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
| tubearchivist | Pulsarr | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.5K | ★ 744 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-28 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 420 | ⑂ 14 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick tubearchivist if
- You weight community size — 8.5K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Pulsarr if
- You want the Pulsarr 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 Pulsarr fits your workflow better
About tubearchivist
Tube Archivist is a self hosted YouTube media server that downloads videos with yt dlp, indexes them with metadata from YouTube, and serves them back through a searchable web interface, built for people whose personal YouTube archive has grown past the point where folders and filenames still work.
read the full tubearchivist overview →
About Pulsarr
Pulsarr is TypeScript, AGPL 3.0 project for Plex watchlist monitoring and content acquisition. It bridges Plex watchlists with Sonarr and Radarr, so Plex items become media library requests without extra logins. It runs in self hosted media server ecosystem, with web interface at port 3003. Docs site covers quick start, native installation, configuration, Discord setup, features, API. Docs are at jamcalli.github.io/Pulsarr.
read the full Pulsarr overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tubearchivist or Pulsarr more popular?
tubearchivist has 8,451 GitHub stars and Pulsarr has 744. tubearchivist has the larger community by that measure.
Are tubearchivist and Pulsarr free?
Both are open source. tubearchivist is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Pulsarr under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tubearchivist and Pulsarr?
tubearchivist is written in Python and Pulsarr 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, tubearchivist or Pulsarr?
Choose tubearchivist if you want the larger community (8,451 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Pulsarr if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.