What is Ampache used for?

Ampache is a web-based audio and video streaming application and file manager for accessing your music and videos from nearly any internet-enabled device. It is a good fit for streaming a personal music library from anywhere and serving music to third-party mobile clients.

Is Ampache open source?

Yes. Ampache is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at ampache/ampache and is written mainly in PHP.

Yes. Ampache is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Ampache?

Yes. Ampache can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What is Ampache an alternative to?

Ampache is an open-source alternative to Spotify, Plex, Apple Music and YouTube Music. Other open-source alternatives to Spotify include Navidrome, Koel and Gonic.

Is Ampache actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Ampache was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is 8.2.1, published on 2 October 2026. The project has 3.8k stars on GitHub.

Ampache: open-source alternative to Spotify, Plex

About Ampache

Ampache is a web-based audio and video streaming application and file manager that lets you reach your music and videos from almost any internet-enabled device. It presents an already organized collection in a useful way rather than reorganizing your files.

Its usefulness depends on extracting correct metadata from embedded tags or file names, and it assumes you manage your files yourself. It runs on web servers including Apache, lighttpd, nginx and IIS, with most testing on Apache, and a documented API supports clients. The development branch, Ampache 8, adds an opt-in Jellyfin-compatible API so third-party clients such as Finamp and Symfonium can browse and stream a library.

The project recommends the stable release 7 branch for most users, notes that the develop branch can be unstable and needs PHP 8.5 or later, and provides a Docker image, wiki and admin and user guides. Ampache is written in PHP and licensed under AGPL-3.0.

Key features

Web-based audio and video streaming
File manager for media collections
Metadata from embedded tags and filenames
Documented API for third-party clients
Opt-in Jellyfin-compatible API
Runs on Apache, nginx, lighttpd and IIS
Docker image available

Good fit for

→Streaming a personal music library from anywhere
→Serving music to third-party mobile clients

Built with: PHP
Tags: music-streaming; media-server; audio; video; php; self-hosted; jellyfin-api; file-manager

Ampache: questions and answers

What is Ampache used for?: Ampache is a web-based audio and video streaming application and file manager for accessing your music and videos from nearly any internet-enabled device. It is a good fit for streaming a personal music library from anywhere and serving music to third-party mobile clients.
Is Ampache open source?: Yes. Ampache is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at ampache/ampache and is written mainly in PHP.
Is Ampache free?: Yes. Ampache is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Ampache?: Yes. Ampache can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is Ampache an alternative to?: Ampache is an open-source alternative to Spotify, Plex, Apple Music and YouTube Music. Other open-source alternatives to Spotify include Navidrome, Koel and Gonic.
Is Ampache actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Ampache was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is 8.2.1, published on 2 October 2026. The project has 3.8k stars on GitHub.