What Navidrome does
Navidrome is a free, open-source music server you run yourself. It indexes your music files and streams them to a web player and to Subsonic-compatible apps on phones, desktops, and other devices.
Navidrome turns your own digital music collection into a personal streaming service. You install it on a computer or server, point it at your music folders, and it indexes the files and makes them available through a modern web player. The project describes the result as similar to Spotify or Apple Music, but with music you already own.
The server reads the metadata in your files and handles compilations, multi-disc box sets, and very large libraries. The project says it has been tested with about 900,000 songs. It watches your library for changes and imports new files automatically. Multi-user support gives each person their own playlists, favourites, ratings, and play counts, and multi-library support lets you separate music from audiobooks or family music from personal music, with access controls for each user.
Navidrome implements the OpenSubsonic API, so it works with a large ecosystem of client apps. The Apps page lists about 90 apps for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, and the web. The server can transcode music on the fly, including to Opus, so you can save mobile data, and it supports lyrics, smart playlists, sharing, scrobbling, plugins, and themes.
Navidrome is lightweight and self-contained. It runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, and FreeBSD, on small devices such as a Raspberry Pi, and in Docker. For people who do not want to manage a server, PikaPods offers officially supported hosting, and a share of that revenue funds the project.
Navidrome is free software under the GNU GPL v3 license, with regular releases and development on GitHub. The community meets on Reddit and Discord, and a live demo is available on the website.
Best for
People with their own music collection who want to stream it from anywhere, including home server and Raspberry Pi users.
Not for
People who want a catalog of licensed music to discover, or who do not want to install or host any software.
Questions and answers
Is Navidrome free?
Yes. Navidrome is open-source software distributed free of charge under the GNU GPL v3 license.
Which apps can I use with Navidrome?
You can use the built-in web player or any app that supports the OpenSubsonic API. The website lists about 90 apps for Android, iOS, desktop, and the web.
What hardware does it need?
Navidrome is lightweight and runs well on resource-limited devices such as a Raspberry Pi. It also runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, and Docker.
Can I use it without running my own server?
Yes. PikaPods offers an officially supported, cloud-hosted setup, and a share of the revenue helps fund Navidrome.
Can I upload music through Navidrome?
Navidrome indexes the music files already stored on its drive. You add files to your music folder and Navidrome picks up the changes.