head to head · open source
tvheadend vs Ghosten-Player
tvheadend has 3,572 GitHub stars, 993 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Ghosten-Player has 3,392 stars, 211 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. tvheadend leads on adoption by 5% (3,572 vs 3,392 stars). tvheadend is written in C under GPL-3.0; Ghosten-Player is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0. tvheadend has attracted 28% as many forks as stars, Ghosten-Player 6%. tvheadend 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 | Ghosten-Player | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.6K | ★ 3.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 993 | ⑂ 211 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick tvheadend if
- You weight community size — 3.6K 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 Ghosten-Player if
- You want the Ghosten-Player feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and Ghosten-Player fits your workflow better
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…
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About Ghosten-Player
中文 English Ghosten Player 是一款同时适配 📱 Android Phone 和 📺 Android TV 的视频播放器(未来将支持 Windows 和 macOS)。整合影视资源，自动刮削媒体信息，支持IPTV播放，优雅打造私人影视库。 界面简洁，功能丰富，开箱即用。 如果项目对您有帮助，就请给颗🌟Star吧。 项目处于用爱发电阶段，请考虑赞助支持项目持续维护。您的支持是我维护的最大动力(′･ω･ ) Features 自动刮削媒体信息 themoviedb nfo 客户端 Android Phone 和 Android Pad Android TV Windows (开发中) Macos (开发中) 网盘支持 支持阿里云盘、夸克网盘、Webdav和本地媒体文件 支持Emby和Jellyfin 清晰度切换(阿里云盘) 多账号登录 网盘文件查看和管理 文件下载和边下边播 多线程网络加速 IPTV 线路切换 自动分组 节目时间表EPG 播放器 手势操作(双击播放/暂停/快进/快退，音量/亮度调节，画面缩放，拖动快进，长按倍速等) 跳过片头/片尾 播放内嵌字幕和外置字幕[^2] 倍速播放 视频轨道选择 DLNA投屏 自定义字幕样式 UI 中英双语 浅色和深色模式 支持手机端辅助TV端输入 自定义界面大小 TV端自定义按键 其他 纯本地运行，无需后端服务支持 [^1] 软件体积小 (≈ 15…
read the full Ghosten-Player overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tvheadend or Ghosten-Player more popular?
tvheadend has 3,572 GitHub stars and Ghosten-Player has 3,392. tvheadend has the larger community by that measure.
Are tvheadend and Ghosten-Player free?
Both are open source. tvheadend is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Ghosten-Player under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tvheadend and Ghosten-Player?
tvheadend is written in C and Ghosten-Player in Dart. 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 Ghosten-Player?
Choose tvheadend if you want the larger community (3,572 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Ghosten-Player if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.