What is Invidious used for?

Invidious is an open-source, ad-free alternative front end for YouTube that works without JavaScript and can be self-hosted. It is a good fit for watching YouTube videos with fewer trackers and running a personal or community YouTube front end.

Is Invidious open source?

Yes. Invidious is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at iv-org/invidious and is written mainly in Crystal.

Yes. Invidious is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.

Can I self-host Invidious?

Yes. Invidious can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Invidious an alternative to?

Invidious is an open-source alternative to YouTube. Other open-source alternatives to YouTube include Piped, FreeTube and LibreTube.

Is Invidious actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Invidious was on 30 September 2026, and the latest release is v2.20260804.1, published on 5 August 2026. The project has 25k stars on GitHub.

Invidious: open-source alternative to YouTube

About Invidious

Invidious is an open-source alternative front end to YouTube. It lets you watch videos without ads, without tracking and without requiring JavaScript, and it does not use the official YouTube APIs. It is written in the Crystal language and released under the AGPL-3.0 license. You can either use a public instance from the community list or host your own by following the installation instructions.

User features include light and dark themes, a customizable homepage, subscriptions independent of a Google account, notifications for subscribed channels, an audio-only mode with background play on mobile, Reddit comment support and many interface languages. Subscriptions can be imported from YouTube, NewPipe and FreeTube, watch history from YouTube and NewPipe, and exports go to NewPipe and FreeTube. There is an embedded video option and a developer API, and the project recommends the Privacy Redirect extension to send YouTube links to an Invidious instance.

Key features

Ad-free, tracker-free YouTube viewing
Works without JavaScript
Subscriptions independent from a Google account
Import and export with NewPipe and FreeTube
Audio-only mode with background play
Developer API and embedded video support

Good fit for

→Watching YouTube videos with fewer trackers
→Running a personal or community YouTube front end

Built with: Crystal
Tags: youtube; privacy; frontend; video; self-hosted; no-tracking; crystal; alternative-frontend

Invidious: questions and answers

What is Invidious used for?: Invidious is an open-source, ad-free alternative front end for YouTube that works without JavaScript and can be self-hosted. It is a good fit for watching YouTube videos with fewer trackers and running a personal or community YouTube front end.
Is Invidious open source?: Yes. Invidious is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at iv-org/invidious and is written mainly in Crystal.
Is Invidious free?: Yes. Invidious is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
Can I self-host Invidious?: Yes. Invidious can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Invidious an alternative to?: Invidious is an open-source alternative to YouTube. Other open-source alternatives to YouTube include Piped, FreeTube and LibreTube.
Is Invidious actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Invidious was on 30 September 2026, and the latest release is v2.20260804.1, published on 5 August 2026. The project has 25k stars on GitHub.