koel
Personal music streaming server that works.
Description from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Still maintained? Yes: 406 commits in the last 90 days, latest release v9.15.0 (Sep 2026).
Also an alternative to Spotify and SoundCloud.
At a glance
koel quick facts
- Health score
- 87/100 GOOD
- Stars
- 17,320
- Last commit
- today (Oct 2026)
- Latest release
- v9.15.0, Sep 2026
- Licence
- MIT
Top alternatives to koel
Full rankings: Spotify alternatives, SoundCloud alternatives
In its own words
The project's README opens: "Koel (also stylized as koel, with a lowercase k) is a free, open-source music streaming solution that turns your personal collection into a sleek, web-based listening experience."
Why it ranks here
Health score explained
koel scores 87/100, #7 of 28 in Media Streaming - Audio Streaming: 406 commits in the last 90 days earn 35.0 of 35 points, the latest release (v9.15.0, 1 month ago) earns 25.0 of 25, 17,320 stars add 17.0 of 20, an active, unarchived repository keeps 10 and no advertised Docker image leaves the final 10 unclaimed. That places it in the good band (70 and above). The biggest shortfall is Docker support, worth 10.0 more points.
Recomputed nightly from the GitHub API. How the score is calculated.
Health over time
- Commit activity 35.0 / 35
406 commits in 90 days (30+ scores full marks)
- Release recency 25.0 / 25
v9.15.0 released 1 month ago
- Stars 17.0 / 20
17k stars on GitHub (logarithmic)
- Not archived 10.0 / 10
Repository is active
- Docker support biggest shortfall 0.0 / 10
No Docker support advertised
Commit activity
- 406
- Last 90 days
- 826
- Last 12 months
- today
- Last push
Ranked #7 of 28 tools in Media Streaming - Audio Streaming by health , between Beets (#6) and Mopidy (#8) .
Details
| Licence | MIT |
| Platforms | PHP |
| Latest release | v9.15.0 · 1 month ago |
| Stars | 17,320 |
| Open issues | 9 |
| Docker | Not advertised |
| Repository | koel/koel ↗ |
koel vs its top 5 alternatives
Active tools that share a comparison page or a category with koel (Media Streaming - Audio Streaming), scored on the same five terms.
| Tool | Health | Stars | Licence | Last commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LMS | 93 | 1.7k | GPL-3.0 | 1 month ago |
| Beets | 87 | 16k | MIT | 2 days ago |
| koel (this tool) | 87 | 17k | MIT | today |
| Ampache | 84 | 3.8k | AGPL-3.0 | yesterday |
| gonic | 84 | 2.6k | GPL-3.0 | 3 days ago |
| Black Candy | 70 | 4.4k | MIT | 9 days ago |
koel: common questions
What does koel replace?
Repoly lists koel as an open-source alternative to Spotify and SoundCloud. Each comparison page ranks every alternative by the same health score, so you can see where koel stands against the others.
Is koel still maintained?
koel had 406 commits in the last 90 days and its last push was today; the latest tagged release, v9.15.0, is from 1 month ago. Repoly recomputes this nightly.