head to head · open source
tvheadend vs iptv-tool
tvheadend has 3,524 GitHub stars, 975 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. iptv-tool has 1,118 stars, 295 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. tvheadend leads on adoption by 215% (3,524 vs 1,118 stars). tvheadend is written in C under GPL-3.0; iptv-tool is written in PHP under GPL-2.0. tvheadend has attracted 28% as many forks as stars, iptv-tool 26%. tvheadend 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| tvheadend | iptv-tool | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.5K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-08-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 975 | ⑂ 295 |
| 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 iptv-tool if
- You want the iptv-tool feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and iptv-tool 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 iptv-tool
iptv tool is a self hosted IPTV toolbox written in PHP and distributed under the GPL 2.0 licence. It runs from a Docker image (taksss/php epg) built on Alpine, with images published for the amd64, arm64 and armv7 architectures and a compressed image size of about 20 MB. The project manages Electronic Program Guide data, live source lists and channel logos from a single web administration page, and it returns data in the DIYP/Baichuan, 超级直播 and xmltv formats.
read the full iptv-tool overview →
More in Miscellaneous
Related comparisons
More Media & Streaming projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Media & Streaming field.
Frequently asked questions
Is tvheadend or iptv-tool more popular?
tvheadend has 3,524 GitHub stars and iptv-tool has 1,118. tvheadend has the larger community by that measure.
Are tvheadend and iptv-tool free?
Both are open source. tvheadend is licensed under GPL-3.0 and iptv-tool under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tvheadend and iptv-tool?
tvheadend is written in C and iptv-tool in PHP. 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 iptv-tool?
Choose tvheadend if you want the larger community (3,524 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose iptv-tool if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.