head to head · open source
tvheadend vs HTV
tvheadend has 3,524 GitHub stars, 975 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. HTV has 760 stars, 53 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped today. tvheadend leads on adoption by 364% (3,524 vs 760 stars). tvheadend is written in C under GPL-3.0; HTV is written in Dart under Apache-2.0. tvheadend has attracted 28% as many forks as stars, HTV 7%. HTV was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (epg, 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 | HTV | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.5K | ★ 760 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 975 | ⑂ 53 |
| 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 HTV if
- You want the HTV feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and HTV 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 HTV
HTV is a free, ad free live television player for Android phones, Android TV devices, and TV boxes that plays a maintained channel lineup without an account or any configuration.
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Frequently asked questions
Is tvheadend or HTV more popular?
tvheadend has 3,524 GitHub stars and HTV has 760. tvheadend has the larger community by that measure.
Are tvheadend and HTV free?
Both are open source. tvheadend is licensed under GPL-3.0 and HTV under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tvheadend and HTV?
tvheadend is written in C and HTV 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 HTV?
Choose tvheadend if you want the larger community (3,524 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose HTV if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.