Best Open-Source Music Apps 2026: 7 Options Compared

Open-source music apps come in two shapes: players for files on your own disk and clients for a music server you run. Strawberry (GPL-3.0) is a full desktop collection organizer, Museeks (MIT) is a minimal local player, and Audacious (BSD-2-Clause) is a light player aimed at low-resource systems. Nuclear (AGPL-3.0) streams from online sources instead of local files. For a personal streaming service, Navidrome and Jellyfin are free servers that serve your library to phones and browsers, and Feishin is a desktop client for Navidrome, Jellyfin and Subsonic-style servers. The server route needs a machine that stays on and a properly tagged library, but it gives you a Spotify-like experience from files you own. The local route needs nothing but a folder. Neither route supplies catalogue music: you need your own files, and none of these apps unlocks a commercial streaming catalogue. Check which operating systems each one supports before choosing, since several are desktop-only, and decide early whether you want playlists synced across devices, because only the server-based approach does that cleanly.

Navidrome

GPL-3.0 server for your own music and audiobook library, with Subsonic-compatible apps on phone and desktop. Music only.

Price: Free (Free under the GPL v3; music (and audiobook) libraries only) (Navidrome pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Self-hosted, Web browser. GPL-3.0 (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 24.4k GitHub stars · latest release v0.64.2 (Sep 24, 2026) · last commit Oct 26, 2026

Best for: A personal streaming service.

Jellyfin

GPL-2.0 media server with no subscription or paid tier; handles music along with video and photos in one place.

Price: Free (Server and official clients are free with no subscription or paid tier) (Jellyfin pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker. GPL-2.0 (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 58.7k GitHub stars · latest release v12.4 (Oct 26, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: Music beside films and shows.

Strawberry Music Player

GPL-3.0 desktop player and collection organizer for Windows, macOS and Linux, with tag editing and smart playlists.

Price: Free (Free open-source music player and collection organizer) (Strawberry Music Player pricing, checked 2026-10-24).

Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. GPL-3.0 (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 4k GitHub stars · latest release 1.2.31 (Oct 2, 2026) · last commit Oct 23, 2026

Best for: Large local libraries.

Worth knowing: License verified from the repository LICENSE/COPYING file on GitHub on 2026-10-24; platforms listed from project knowledge, not re-verified on the project site.

Feishin

GPL-3.0 desktop client for Navidrome, Jellyfin and Subsonic-style servers on Windows, macOS, Linux and web.

Price: Free (Free open-source desktop client for Navidrome, Jellyfin and Subsonic-style servers) (Feishin pricing, checked 2026-10-24).

Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux, Web browser. GPL-3.0 (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 10.3k GitHub stars · latest release v1.17.0 (Sep 15, 2026) · last commit Oct 25, 2026

Best for: A polished client for your server.

Worth knowing: License verified from the repository LICENSE/COPYING file on GitHub on 2026-10-24; platforms listed from project knowledge, not re-verified on the project site.

Museeks

MIT-licensed minimal desktop player for Windows, macOS and Linux that simply plays a folder of music.

Price: Free (Free open-source local music player) (Museeks pricing, checked 2026-10-24).

Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. MIT (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 2.1k GitHub stars · latest release 0.23.4 (Feb 19, 2026) · last commit Jul 3, 2026

Best for: Simple local playback.

Worth knowing: License verified from the repository LICENSE/COPYING file on GitHub on 2026-10-24; platforms listed from project knowledge, not re-verified on the project site.

Audacious

BSD-2-Clause lightweight audio player that stays comfortable on older machines, with skin support and a small memory footprint.

Price: Free (Free open-source lightweight audio player) (Audacious pricing, checked 2026-10-24).

Platforms and license: Linux, Windows. BSD-2-Clause (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 1.3k GitHub stars · latest release audacious-4.6.2 (Oct 19, 2026) · last commit Oct 19, 2026

Best for: Old or low-power machines.

Worth knowing: License verified from the repository LICENSE/COPYING file on GitHub on 2026-10-24; platforms listed from project knowledge, not re-verified on the project site.

Nuclear

AGPL-3.0 desktop player that streams from online sources rather than only local files; availability of sources can change.

Price: Free (Free open-source desktop player that streams from online sources) (Nuclear pricing, checked 2026-10-24).

Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. AGPL-3.0 (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 18.8k GitHub stars · latest release player@1.52.2 (Oct 26, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: Browsing online sources.

Worth knowing: License verified from the repository LICENSE/COPYING file on GitHub on 2026-10-24; platforms listed from project knowledge, not re-verified on the project site.

Which one to pick

• You want your own streaming server: Navidrome
• You already run Jellyfin for films: Jellyfin
• You only need a player for a music folder: Museeks
• You have a huge tagged collection: Strawberry Music Player