Polaris
Music browsing and streaming application optimized for large music collections, ease of use and high performance.
Description from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Still maintained? Yes: 8 commits in the last 90 days, latest release 0.16.1 (May 2026).
Comparisons in Media Streaming - Audio Streaming: Spotify alternatives, SoundCloud alternatives, Podbean alternatives.
At a glance
Polaris quick facts
- Health score
- 68/100 SLOWING
- Stars
- 2,733
- Last commit
- 4 days ago (Oct 2026)
- Latest release
- 0.16.1, May 2026
- Licence
- MIT
Top alternatives to Polaris
In its own words
The project's README opens: "Polaris is a self-hosted music streaming server, to enjoy your music collection from any computer or mobile device. It is free and open-source software, without any kind of premium version."
Why it ranks here
Health score explained
Polaris scores 68/100, #21 of 28 in Media Streaming - Audio Streaming: 8 commits in the last 90 days earn 9.3 of 35 points, the latest release (0.16.1, 6 months ago) earns 25.0 of 25, 2,733 stars add 13.7 of 20, an active, unarchived repository keeps 10 and Docker support adds the final 10. That places it in the slowing band (40 to 69). The biggest shortfall is commit activity, worth 25.7 more points.
Recomputed nightly from the GitHub API. How the score is calculated.
- Commit activity biggest shortfall 9.3 / 35
8 commits in 90 days (30+ scores full marks)
- Release recency 25.0 / 25
0.16.1 released 6 months ago
- Stars 13.7 / 20
2.7k stars on GitHub (logarithmic)
- Not archived 10.0 / 10
Repository is active
- Docker support 10.0 / 10
Docker image or Compose file available
Commit activity
- 8
- Last 90 days
- 69
- Last 12 months
- 4 days ago
- Last push
Ranked #21 of 28 tools in Media Streaming - Audio Streaming by health , between Lyrion Music Server (#20) and SwingMusic (#22) .
Details
| Licence | MIT |
| Platforms | Rust, Docker |
| Latest release | 0.16.1 · 6 months ago |
| Stars | 2,733 |
| Open issues | 25 |
| Docker | Yes |
| Repository | agersant/polaris ↗ |
Polaris vs its top 5 alternatives
Active tools that share a category with Polaris (Media Streaming - Audio Streaming), scored on the same five terms.
| Tool | Health | Stars | Licence | Last commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| koel | 87 | 17k | MIT | today |
| gonic | 84 | 2.6k | GPL-3.0 | 3 days ago |
| mStream | 84 | 2.4k | GPL-3.0 | today |
| Black Candy | 70 | 4.4k | MIT | 9 days ago |
| Polaris (this tool) | 68 | 2.7k | MIT | 4 days ago |
| SwingMusic | 68 | 2.1k | MIT | 25 days ago |
Polaris: common questions
Is Polaris still maintained?
Polaris had 8 commits in the last 90 days and its last push was 4 days ago; the latest tagged release, 0.16.1, is from 6 months ago. Repoly recomputes this nightly.
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