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5 jobs · 14 apps

Best open source software for media and creators

For a creator or media team, a self-hosted stack starts with PeerTube for video and live streams, Ghost for the blog and newsletter and Postiz for social posting.

A creator stack that you own: video hosting and live streaming, a blog and newsletter, social scheduling, analytics and asset storage.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed daily

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    PeerTube

    Chocobozzz/PeerTube

    Decentralized video streaming platform using P2P (BitTorrent) directly in the web browser.

    Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026

    Media ServersTypeScript

    PeerTube has 15,371 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 2,118 commits in the last year; it replaces YouTube and Loom.

  2. Rank 2:

    Owncast

    owncast/owncast

    Decentralized single-user live video streaming and chat server for running your own live streams similar in style to the large mainstream options.

    Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026

    Media ServersGo

    Stands out for a permissive MIT license. Owncast has 11,630 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 1,446 commits in the last year; it replaces YouTube.

  3. Rank 3:

    MediaCMS

    mediacms-io/mediacms

    Modern, fully featured open source video and media CMS, written in Python/Django/React, featuring a REST API.

    Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026

    Media ServersPythonDocker

    Stands out for its Python codebase. MediaCMS has 5,169 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 101 commits in the last year; it replaces YouTube and Loom.

At a glance

Open source software for media and creators compared

Picked by hand for each job from apps whose own description or topics match it, in curated order inside each section, with GitHub data from October 2026; an app appears only once.

Top 10 picks compared, data as of Oct 28, 2026
AppStands out forLicenseGitHub starsCommits (12 mo)Last commitDocker image
PeerTube–AGPL-3.015,3712,118Oct 28, 2026No
Owncasta permissive MIT licenseMIT11,6301,446Oct 26, 2026No
MediaCMSits Python codebaseAGPL-3.05,169101Oct 26, 2026Yes
Ghostthe most GitHub starsMIT55,6266,762Oct 28, 2026No
Listmonka published Docker imageAGPL-3.024,011463Oct 28, 2026Yes
WriteFreely–AGPL-3.05,275215Oct 26, 2026No
Postiz–AGPL-3.039,7081,517Oct 24, 2026Yes
Mastodon–AGPL-3.050,4553,106Oct 28, 2026Yes
PixelFed–AGPL-3.07,1314,288Oct 27, 2026No
Umami–MIT39,7421,417Oct 27, 2026Yes

1 of 5 · 3 picks

Video and live streaming

  1. 1

    PeerTube

    Decentralized video streaming platform using P2P (BitTorrent) directly in the web browser.

    PeerTube has 15,371 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 2,118 commits in the last year; it replaces YouTube and Loom.

  2. 2

    Owncast

    Decentralized single-user live video streaming and chat server for running your own live streams similar in style to the large mainstream options.

    Stands out for a permissive MIT license. Owncast has 11,630 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 1,446 commits in the last year; it replaces YouTube.

  3. 3

    MediaCMS

    Modern, fully featured open source video and media CMS, written in Python/Django/React, featuring a REST API.

    Stands out for its Python codebase. MediaCMS has 5,169 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 101 commits in the last year; it replaces YouTube and Loom.

2 of 5 · 3 picks

Blog and newsletter

  1. 1

    Ghost

    Just a blogging platform.

    Stands out for the most GitHub stars. Ghost has 55,626 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 6,762 commits in the last year; it replaces Medium.

  2. 2

    Listmonk

    High performance, self-hosted newsletter and mailing list manager with a modern dashboard.

    Stands out for a published Docker image. Listmonk has 24,011 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 463 commits in the last year; it replaces Mailchimp and Substack.

  3. 3

    WriteFreely

    Writing software for starting a minimalist, federated blog — or an entire community.

    WriteFreely has 5,275 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 215 commits in the last year; it replaces Medium.

3 of 5 · 3 picks

Social

  1. 1

    Postiz

    Schedule posts, track the performance of your content, and manage all your social media accounts in one place (Alternative to Buffer, Hootsuite, Sprout Social).

    Postiz has 39,708 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,517 commits in the last year.

  2. 2

    Mastodon

    Federated microblogging server.

    Mastodon has 50,455 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 3,106 commits in the last year; it replaces Twitter / X.

  3. 3

    PixelFed

    Ethical photo sharing platform, powered by ActivityPub federation (alternative to Instagram).

    PixelFed has 7,131 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 4,288 commits in the last year; it replaces Twitter / X.

4 of 5 · 2 picks

Analytics

  1. 1

    Umami

    Simple, fast, privacy-focused alternative to Google Analytics.

    Umami has 39,742 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 1,417 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Analytics.

  2. 2

    Plausible Analytics

    Simple, lightweight (< 1 KB) and privacy-friendly web analytics.

    Plausible Analytics has 29,700 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 618 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Analytics.

5 of 5 · 3 picks

Asset storage

  1. 1

    Immich

    Photo and video backup solution directly from your mobile phone (alternative to Google Photos).

    Immich has 117,454 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,902 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Photos and Adobe Photoshop.

  2. 2

    Nextcloud

    Access and share your files, calendars, contacts, mail and more from any device, on your terms.

    Nextcloud has 37,321 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 8,046 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Drive and Dropbox.

  3. 3

    Seafile

    File hosting and sharing solution primary for teams and organizations.

    Seafile has 15,394 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-2.0 license and had 45 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Drive and Dropbox.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

Can I host my own YouTube or Twitch?

PeerTube is a decentralized video platform and Owncast a self-hosted live streaming and chat server. Video is bandwidth-heavy, so budget for storage and traffic, or put a CDN in front.

Can I run a paid newsletter on my own server?

Ghost is a blogging platform you can self-host, and Listmonk is a self-hosted newsletter manager. Check each one's documentation for the payment features you need.

Is PeerTube free?

Yes. PeerTube is open-source software released under the AGPL-3.0 license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.

Can I run this stack with Docker?

6 of the 14 apps here publish Docker images, including MediaCMS, Listmonk and Postiz, so most of the stack can run side by side with Docker Compose on one server. Size the server for the heaviest app and add off-site backups.

How is this list ranked?

Picked by hand for each job from apps whose own description or topics match it, in curated order inside each section, with GitHub data from October 2026; an app appears only once.

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