Compare / Owncast vs PeerTube
Owncast vs PeerTube
Pick Owncast if the product is live (the published Twitch/StreamYard stack). Pick PeerTube if the product is a VOD library (already on /replace/vimeo).
Facts checked 22 Oct 2026. License, language, and GitHub activity come from the catalog or the project's own repo. "Not in the catalog row" means the public catalog dump does not store that number.
Owncast in the catalog PeerTube in the catalog Start on Railway
How they compare
| Owncast | PeerTube | |
|---|---|---|
| License | MIT License (catalog) source | AGPL-3.0 (catalog) source |
| Language | Go (catalog) | TypeScript (catalog) |
| GitHub activity | 11,621 stars in the catalog source | 15,363 stars in the catalog source |
| Self-host | Published as /stacks/owncast-live. RTMP ingest plus chat. | Published as /stacks/peertube-video. Federated VOD library. |
| Best for | A live broadcast. | A library and a player. |
Self-hosting and resource needs
Owncast is /stacks/owncast-live. PeerTube is /stacks/peertube-video. Jitsi is a meeting, not a broadcast — /compare/owncast-vs-jitsi-meet. Loom-style recordings stay on /replace/loom.
FAQ
- Twitch or StreamYard?
- Same published live stack — /replace/twitch and /replace/streamyard. The browser studio stays behind.
- Is this Vimeo?
- Vimeo is PeerTube — /replace/vimeo. This pair is live versus VOD.
- Are these free?
- Owncast is MIT. PeerTube is AGPL-3.0. You pay hosting and bandwidth.
- How do I deploy Owncast?
- Open /stacks/owncast-live. Persist config. Point an encoder at the ingest URL.
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