koel vs SRS
| Tagline | Personal music streaming server with a sleek web player | High-efficiency real-time video server supporting RTMP, WebRTC, HLS, and SRT |
| Category | Media Servers & Streaming | Media Servers & Streaming |
| Replaces | Spotify | Plex |
| GitHub stars | 17k | 29k |
| Language | PHP | Docker |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 3/5 Moderate |
| Deploy options | Docker Manual | Docker Docker Compose Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 2 days ago | 20 days ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
koel
- Requires PHP runtime and a relational database, adding operational overhead vs. single-binary alternatives.
- No native mobile apps; mobile access relies on third-party Subsonic clients.
- No algorithmic recommendations or social/collaborative features like Spotify.
- Podcast support is absent; music library files only.
SRS
- No built-in media library or VOD management; primarily focused on live ingest and relay.
- English documentation is limited compared to the Chinese-language docs.
- Lacks a polished end-user playback UI; requires pairing with a separate frontend.
- No DRM or subscription/paywall features for commercial content delivery.
Bottom line
Both are a similar lift to self-host; choose SRS for the larger community and ecosystem. koel has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.