head to head · open source
tvheadend vs MovieBox-Tui
tvheadend has 3,524 GitHub stars, 975 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. MovieBox-Tui has 2,095 stars, 228 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. tvheadend leads on adoption by 68% (3,524 vs 2,095 stars). tvheadend is written in C under GPL-3.0; MovieBox-Tui is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. tvheadend has attracted 28% as many forks as stars, MovieBox-Tui 11%. MovieBox-Tui 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 | MovieBox-Tui | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.5K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 975 | ⑂ 228 |
| 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 MovieBox-Tui if
- You want the MovieBox-Tui feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and MovieBox-Tui 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 MovieBox-Tui
MovieBox Tui is a Rust terminal user interface for finding, downloading, and streaming movies, TV shows, anime, and live television. It lives in the command line media ecosystem, using ratatui and local players such as mpv, IINA, VLC, or Android video players. The project gives users one keyboard driven workspace for searching titles, browsing providers, importing IPTV playlists, and launching playback.
read the full MovieBox-Tui overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tvheadend or MovieBox-Tui more popular?
tvheadend has 3,524 GitHub stars and MovieBox-Tui has 2,095. tvheadend has the larger community by that measure.
Are tvheadend and MovieBox-Tui free?
Both are open source. tvheadend is licensed under GPL-3.0 and MovieBox-Tui under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tvheadend and MovieBox-Tui?
tvheadend is written in C and MovieBox-Tui in Rust. 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 MovieBox-Tui?
Choose tvheadend if you want the larger community (3,524 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose MovieBox-Tui if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.