head to head · open source
tvheadend vs Megacubo
tvheadend has 3,524 GitHub stars, 975 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. Megacubo has 604 stars, 91 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. tvheadend leads on adoption by 483% (3,524 vs 604 stars). tvheadend is written in C under GPL-3.0; Megacubo is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. tvheadend has attracted 28% as many forks as stars, Megacubo 15%. 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 | Megacubo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.5K | ★ 604 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 975 | ⑂ 91 |
| 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 Megacubo if
- You want the Megacubo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Megacubo 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 Megacubo
Megacubo is a free, open source, cross platform IPTV player for the M3U ecosystem, built for people on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android who want to organize and watch publicly available live TV, radio, and community stream lists in one place.
read the full Megacubo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tvheadend or Megacubo more popular?
tvheadend has 3,524 GitHub stars and Megacubo has 604. tvheadend has the larger community by that measure.
Are tvheadend and Megacubo free?
Both are open source. tvheadend is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Megacubo under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tvheadend and Megacubo?
tvheadend is written in C and Megacubo in JavaScript. 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 Megacubo?
Choose tvheadend if you want the larger community (3,524 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Megacubo if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.