Owncastvspolar
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Owncast | polar | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 73/100 | 71/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 4 in Live Streaming | #1 of 13 in Billing |
| GitHub stars | 11 632 | 10 436 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +76 | +157 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 3 | 1 |
| Latest release | v0.3.0 · 2 Sept 2026 | @polar-sh/cli@3.0.0 · 16 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Easy | Advanced |
| Official Docker image | Yes | No |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Go | Python |
Which one should you pick?
Owncast scores 73/100 against 71/100 for polar, so it is the safer default.
Owncast ships more often: 3 stable releases in the past year, against 1 for polar.
If you want the quickest setup, Owncast is easier to run; polar needs more configuration.
polar is growing faster right now (+157 stars in 30 days).
Owncast details →polar details →