What is Koel used for?

Koel is a self-hosted, web-based music streaming server built with Laravel and Vue that serves your personal music collection in any browser. It is a good fit for streaming your own music collection anywhere and running a private Spotify-style service.

Yes. Koel is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at koel/koel and is written mainly in PHP.

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

Can I self-host Koel?

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

What is Koel an alternative to?

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

Is Koel actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Koel was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v9.15.0, published on 28 September 2026. The project has 17k stars on GitHub.

Koel: open-source alternative to Spotify, Apple Music

About Koel

Koel is a free, open-source music streaming server that turns a personal music collection into a web-based player. It is built on Laravel and Vue, scans a music library and serves it back through a modern interface that works in any browser.

Beyond playback, Koel supports playlists and smart playlists, scrobbling, podcasts and radio, integrations with Last.fm, Spotify and MusicBrainz, and an AI assistant that responds to natural-language commands. Koel Player is the official mobile app for iOS and Android, which avoids the limits of the mobile web version.

The core is MIT licensed and designed to be self-hosted, with install and upgrade guides in the official documentation. A premium edition, Koel Plus, adds multi-user libraries, collaboration, SSO, cloud storage drivers, custom themes and white-labeling for organizations that want to run their own streaming service. The author is supported through sponsors on OpenCollective and GitHub.

Key features

Web-based streaming of a personal music library
Playlists and smart playlists
Scrobbling with Last.fm, Spotify and MusicBrainz links
Podcast and radio support
AI assistant for natural-language commands
Official iOS and Android app

Good fit for

→Streaming your own music collection anywhere
→Running a private Spotify-style service

Built with: PHP; Laravel; Vue
Tags: music; streaming; self-hosted; laravel; vue; music-player; podcasts; scrobbling

Koel: questions and answers

What is Koel used for?: Koel is a self-hosted, web-based music streaming server built with Laravel and Vue that serves your personal music collection in any browser. It is a good fit for streaming your own music collection anywhere and running a private Spotify-style service.
Is Koel open source?: Yes. Koel is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at koel/koel and is written mainly in PHP.
Is Koel free?: Yes. Koel is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Koel?: Yes. Koel can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Koel an alternative to?: Koel is an open-source alternative to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Amazon Music. Other open-source alternatives to Spotify include Navidrome, Ampache and Spotube.
Is Koel actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Koel was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v9.15.0, published on 28 September 2026. The project has 17k stars on GitHub.