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Owncast

Self-hosted live video streaming and chat server you run on your own machine.

GitHub Download v0.3.0
Stars
11.6k
Forks
1.2k
Licence
MIT
Language
Go
Last update
11 days ago
Type
App

What it is

Owncast is a free, open source server that lets you run your own live video streams with a built-in chat, instead of using a mainstream streaming platform. You point your existing broadcasting software (such as OBS) at your Owncast server, and viewers watch through a web page that Owncast hosts. The README says it offers ownership over your content, interface, moderation and audience.

  • Run a live stream of your own with built-in chat for viewers
  • Point OBS, Streamlabs or Restream at your own server to broadcast
  • Customize the viewer web interface, which the README says is a React frontend
  • Moderate chat and manage your audience from the admin area at /admin

Great for

  • Streamers who want control over their content, interface and moderation
  • People who already use OBS or similar RTMP-based broadcasting software
  • Hobbyists who want a single self-hosted service that works out of the box
  • Developers who want to read or modify a Go and React streaming server

Not ideal for

  • People who want a hosted service with no server to run, since you must host it yourself
  • Users on native Windows servers, because the README says Owncast does not natively support Windows servers and recommends WSL2
  • Anyone needing multi-user or multi-channel platform features, since the README describes it as a single user server
Step-by-step guide: how to use OwncastInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs
Owncast alternativesOwncast vs SRSgo2rtc vs Owncastlivego vs Owncast

How to get it

  1. 1

    Download the app

    You'll need: Go 1.24 or above (for building from source) · ffmpeg · C compiler such as GCC or a Musl-compatible compiler (for building from source) · Node.js and npm (for the frontend, per the README)

    Clone the repository

    git clone https://github.com/owncast/owncast

    Run from source (backend)

    go run main.go

    Install frontend dependencies

    npm install

    Run frontend dev server

    npm run dev
  2. 2

    Run it

    • Install the prerequisites listed in the README, or download a prebuilt release zip from the releases page.
    • Start the server, for example with go run main.go from the source directory.
    • Open http://yourserver:8080 to view the web interface, or http://yourserver:8080/admin for the admin.
    • Point your broadcasting software (such as OBS) at your new server using RTMP and start streaming.
  3. 3

    Get the most out of it

    • Follow the Quickstart on owncast.online for a guided setup
    • Check the broadcasting compatibility guide to configure OBS, Streamlabs or Restream
    • Check out a release tag, such as v0.0.13, if you want a stable version instead of the develop branch
    • Read the source-running guide on owncast.online/development if you plan to modify the frontend or backend

Downloads

Source code (.zip)develop branch · straight from GitHubRelease v0.3.06 files incl. owncast-0.3.0-linux-arm64.zipOfficial website & docsowncast.online

Strengths

  • Self-hosted, so you control your content, interface, moderation and audience
  • Streaming and chat are included together in one service
  • Uses RTMP, so it works with widely used broadcasting software

Trade-offs

  • You must host and maintain the server yourself, including its networking and bandwidth
  • The README notes no native Windows server support; WSL2 is the suggested path
  • Building from source needs a C compiler, ffmpeg and Go 1.24 or above

How it compares

ProjectStarsTypeLevelUpdatedBest for
owncast (this)11.6kAppintermediate11 days agoStreamers who want control over their content, interface and moderation
livego10.2kAppintermediate11 months agoDevelopers who want to self-host a basic live streaming endpoint
srs29.4kAppintermediate6 days agoDevelopers building live streaming backends that need several delivery protocols
mediamtx20.6kAppintermediate4 days agoPeople routing IP camera streams to viewers in a browser or media player
go2rtc14.6kAppintermediate11 days agoHome users connecting IP cameras to a browser or Home Assistant
lux31.8kCLIbeginner7 months agoPeople who want to save videos from supported sites to a local file from the command line

Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.