Subsonic
Ranked 3 of 4 music servers by recommenders
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.
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.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Satisfies music streaming needs for years
“Now using Nextcloud and Subsonic to stream music to my phone etc.”
Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “AI Generated Music Barred from Bandcamp” “My audio needs have been satisfied for many years with subsonic”
Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “Jellyfin 12.0” Established protocol others are compatible with
“why reinvent the client server protocol there when it's already solved?”
Comment from 14 May 2026 in “The Emacsification of Software” “It replaces (but is fully compatible with) navidrome/subsonic”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “What I self-host”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Self-hosting takes too much work
“self-hosting is too much work with real work and life taking a front seat”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “The lost joy of music piracy” Adding features becomes a chore
“adding everything to Subsonic became a chore”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “2 years building a kids audio app as a solo dev – lessons learned”
Other music servers people recommend
The three most recommended other music servers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Navidrome | 45 | 3 | 94% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Gonic | 9 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| SubsonicThis page | 7 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Music Assistant | 6 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It replaces (but is fully compatible with) navidrome/subsonic”
“My audio needs have been satisfied for many years with subsonic”
“self-hosting is too much work with real work and life taking a front seat”
“why reinvent the client server protocol there when it's already solved?”
“adding everything to Subsonic became a chore”
“Now using Nextcloud and Subsonic to stream music to my phone etc.”
“Wouldn't Subsonic be miles better for that?”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.