head to head · open source
iptv-sources vs tvheadend
iptv-sources has 9,061 GitHub stars, 1,552 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped yesterday. tvheadend has 3,572 stars, 993 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. iptv-sources leads on adoption by 154% (9,061 vs 3,572 stars). iptv-sources is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; tvheadend is written in C under GPL-3.0. iptv-sources has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, tvheadend 28%. iptv-sources 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
| iptv-sources | tvheadend | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.1K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 993 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick iptv-sources if
- You weight community size — 9.1K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick tvheadend if
- You want the tvheadend feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and tvheadend fits your workflow better
About iptv-sources
iptv sources Autoupdate iptv sources Join discord: Sources are from: iptv.org YueChan/Live YanG 1989/m3u fanmingming/live qwerttvv/Beijing IPTV joevess/IPTV cymz6/AutoIPTV Hotel EPG Sources are from: fanmingming/live 112114.xyz epg.51zmt.top:8000 See to get more. Deploy by yourself How to deploy with GitHub Pages How to deploy with docker How to deploy with nodejs Supported Environment Variables Q&A How to close the github raw content proxy How to set the custom github raw source proxy url How to use iptv checker feature How to add your own rollback urls How to create custom sources based on the upstream Star…
read the full iptv-sources overview →
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…
read the full tvheadend overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is iptv-sources or tvheadend more popular?
iptv-sources has 9,061 GitHub stars and tvheadend has 3,572. iptv-sources has the larger community by that measure.
Are iptv-sources and tvheadend free?
Both are open source. iptv-sources is licensed under GPL-3.0 and tvheadend under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between iptv-sources and tvheadend?
iptv-sources is written in TypeScript and tvheadend in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, iptv-sources or tvheadend?
Choose iptv-sources if you want the larger community (9,061 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose tvheadend if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.