# Subsonic

7 Hacker News commenters recommended Subsonic and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free, long-used music server that streams to phones and apps over a well-known protocol. The common caveat is that self-hosting takes more work than many people want.

## Why people recommend it

- Satisfies music streaming needs for years (2 comments): "Now using Nextcloud and Subsonic to stream music to my phone etc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46613358)) "My audio needs have been satisfied for many years with subsonic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49610547))
- Established protocol others are compatible with (2 comments): "why reinvent the client server protocol there when it's already solved?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48129871)) "It replaces (but is fully compatible with) navidrome/subsonic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50117545))

## What people warn about

- Self-hosting takes too much work (1 comments): "self-hosting is too much work with real work and life taking a front seat" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48934470))
- Adding features becomes a chore (1 comments): "adding everything to Subsonic became a chore" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46717359))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Navidrome](https://hackerapproved.com/p/navidrome.md): 45 recommend
- [Gonic](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gonic.md): 9 recommend
- [Music Assistant](https://hackerapproved.com/p/music-assistant.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Subsonic", https://hackerapproved.com/p/subsonic/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).