Comparisons
Which self-hosted option is best? See side-by-side comparisons.
Jellyfin vs Plex vs Emby The three most popular media servers for streaming your movies, shows and music. The big difference: Jellyfin is 100% free with no subscription, while Plex and Emby lock features behind paid plans. Gitea vs GitLab vs Forgejo vs Gogs The main self-hosted Git forges for hosting your code. Gogs and Gitea are lightweight; Forgejo is a community fork of Gitea; GitLab is the most complete (CI/CD, DevOps) and the heaviest. Nextcloud vs ownCloud vs Seafile The best private clouds to replace Google Drive. Nextcloud is the most complete (apps, calendar, docs); Seafile focuses on fast, reliable file sync. Vaultwarden vs Passbolt Self-hosted password managers. Vaultwarden is lightweight and compatible with the Bitwarden apps; Passbolt is team-oriented, with granular sharing. Matomo vs Umami Privacy-respecting self-hosted web analytics in place of Google Analytics. Matomo is full-featured and complete; Umami is minimalist, fast and cookie-free. n8n vs Huginn vs Node-RED Automation platforms to connect apps and APIs, alternatives to Zapier. n8n has the most modern interface; Node-RED shines at IoT; Huginn is agent-oriented. Immich vs PhotoPrism Self-hosted photo backup in place of Google Photos. Immich has mobile apps with automatic upload and a timeline; PhotoPrism is strong at AI organization and runs on modest hardware. Pi-hole vs AdGuard Home Network-level ad and tracker blockers via DNS. Pi-hole is the best-known and most extensible; AdGuard Home ships with DNS-over-HTTPS and a more modern interface by default. Traefik vs Caddy vs Nginx Proxy Manager Reverse proxies for publishing your apps with automatic HTTPS. Traefik discovers Docker services on its own; Caddy is the simplest to configure; Nginx Proxy Manager has a friendly GUI. NocoDB vs Baserow Open source alternatives to Airtable: visual databases with a spreadsheet feel. NocoDB connects to existing SQL databases; Baserow has a more polished no-code experience. Meilisearch vs Typesense vs Elasticsearch Search engines to add instant search to sites and apps. Meilisearch and Typesense are light and easy (alternatives to Algolia); Elasticsearch is the most powerful and complex. PocketBase vs Appwrite Ready-made self-hosted backends (BaaS), alternatives to Firebase. PocketBase is a single executable ideal for lean projects; Appwrite is more robust, with SDKs and team features. WordPress vs Ghost Blog and site platforms. WordPress is the most flexible CMS in the world, with plugins for everything; Ghost is lean, fast and ships with newsletters and paid subscriptions. AppFlowy vs AFFiNE Open source alternatives to Notion for notes and organization. AppFlowy focuses on Notion-style documents and databases; AFFiNE adds whiteboards and visual editing. Outline vs Wiki.js vs BookStack Self-hosted wikis for team documentation. Outline is the most modern and fast; Wiki.js is Git/Markdown-based; BookStack organizes content as books and chapters. Umami vs Plausible vs PostHog vs Matomo Self-hosted web analytics in place of Google Analytics. Umami and Plausible are minimalist and cookie-free; Matomo is the most complete; PostHog focuses on product analytics (sessions, flags, A/B). Appsmith vs ToolJet vs Budibase Low-code platforms for building internal tools, alternatives to Retool. Appsmith and ToolJet connect databases and APIs; Budibase brings a built-in database and a more polished no-code UX. Directus vs Strapi vs Payload Self-hosted headless CMSs to power sites and apps. Directus exposes existing SQL databases; Strapi is the most popular in Node; Payload is developer-first and flexible. Rocket.Chat vs Mattermost vs Zulip Self-hosted team chats, alternatives to Slack. Rocket.Chat is the most complete; Mattermost focuses on devops and Git; Zulip has the unique topic-per-conversation model. Paperless-ngx vs Docspell Management of scanned documents with OCR. Paperless-ngx is the most popular and easiest; Docspell is strong at automatic processing and organizing attachments. Firefly III vs Actual Self-hosted personal finance. Firefly III is complete, with rules and reports; Actual is local-first, fast and focused on zero-sum budgeting (an alternative to YNAB). LibreChat vs Open WebUI vs LobeChat Self-hosted AI chat interfaces, ChatGPT style. Open WebUI integrates very well with Ollama; LibreChat is strong at multi-user and multiple providers; LobeChat has the most modern UI. SearXNG vs YaCy Privacy-respecting self-hosted search engines. SearXNG is a metasearch engine that aggregates results from other services; YaCy is a decentralized engine with its own index. Navidrome vs Funkwhale vs Koel Self-hosted music servers, alternatives to Spotify. Navidrome is lightweight and Subsonic-app compatible; Funkwhale adds social/federation; Koel has an elegant web interface. Calibre-Web vs Kavita vs Komga Self-hosted libraries for e-books and comics. Calibre-Web is great for e-books; Komga focuses on manga/comics; Kavita handles both well and has a fast web reader. FreshRSS vs Miniflux vs Tiny Tiny RSS Self-hosted RSS readers, alternatives to Feedly. FreshRSS is complete and extensible; Miniflux is minimalist and fast; Tiny Tiny RSS is a veteran packed with plugins. Frigate vs ZoneMinder Self-hosted camera surveillance. Frigate uses local AI detection and integrates with Home Assistant; ZoneMinder is the veteran — robust and with many recording features.