head to head · open source
tvheadend vs tunarr
tvheadend has 3,524 GitHub stars, 975 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. tunarr has 2,579 stars, 132 forks, 206 open issues and last shipped today. tvheadend leads on adoption by 37% (3,524 vs 2,579 stars). tvheadend is written in C under GPL-3.0; tunarr is written in TypeScript under Zlib. tvheadend has attracted 28% as many forks as stars, tunarr 5%. tunarr was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (iptv), 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
| tvheadend | tunarr | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.5K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Zlib |
| Written in | C | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 975 | ⑂ 132 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick tvheadend if
- You weight community size — 3.5K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick tunarr if
- You want the tunarr feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Zlib license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and tunarr fits your workflow better
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 →
About tunarr
Tunarr is a self hosted media streaming project written in TypeScript and released under the Zlib license. It creates custom live TV channels from existing media libraries, including Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, and local files. The project lives in the self hosted IPTV and local media streaming ecosystem, where users want their media servers and media players to present a broadcast style channel lineup.
read the full tunarr overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tvheadend or tunarr more popular?
tvheadend has 3,524 GitHub stars and tunarr has 2,579. tvheadend has the larger community by that measure.
Are tvheadend and tunarr free?
Both are open source. tvheadend is licensed under GPL-3.0 and tunarr under Zlib. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tvheadend and tunarr?
tvheadend is written in C and tunarr 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, tvheadend or tunarr?
Choose tvheadend if you want the larger community (3,524 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose tunarr if its feature set, stack or Zlib licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.