Open source alternatives to YouTube Music

6 projects on starwire do the same job. Ranked by how much of what YouTube Music does each one covers, read from its README and website. Ties go to the most active.

What YouTube Music does

Stream songs and albumscore
Playlists and librarycore
Personalized mixes and recommendations
Music videos
Lyrics
Background and offline playback
Podcasts

Each dot in the table is one job, in this order. Square dots are core jobs and count double. Full means yes, half means partly. "See the evidence" under a project shows the line behind each one. Coverage is what a project documents, not how well it works or how hard it is to move to. How we score this

Project	Covers	Stars	Commits, 12 weeks	Last release	Closed vs opened	Setup	License
limusicNative desktop client for YouTube Music with Last.fm and Discord presence	Same job, different way83%	2.1k+126	1,362	26 days ago	79%	Install like an app	GPL-3.0
Covers all 2 core jobs. Partly: Background and offline playback. Not shown: Podcasts.See the evidence Stream songs and albumscoreYesAd-free playback: streams come straight from YouTube's API Playlists and librarycoreYesplaylists, liked songs, saved albums and artists Personalized mixes and recommendationsYesQueue with radio/automix continuation Music videosYesMusic videos: optional, the video plays where the artwork sits LyricsYesSynced lyrics: side panel with auto-scroll Background and offline playbackPartlyclose the window, keep the music PodcastsNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it.
mooziacNative macOS YouTube and YouTube Music player with SponsorBlock and lyrics	Same job, different way78%	130+4	134	15 days ago	50%	Install like an app	MIT
Covers all 2 core jobs. Not shown: Personalized mixes and recommendations; Podcasts.See the evidence Stream songs and albumscoreYesStream YouTube Music in your menu bar Playlists and librarycoreYesDirect access to your cloud playlists, liked songs, and history Personalized mixes and recommendationsNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it. Music videosYeswatch 4K YouTube videos LyricsYesreal-time synchronized lyrics HUD Background and offline playbackYesBuilt-in Downloader PodcastsNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it.
ConvxAndroid music player for YouTube Music with synced lyrics and automix	Replaces it72%	1.4k+115	96	3 months ago	43%	Install like an app	GPL-3.0
Covers all 2 core jobs. Partly: Personalized mixes and recommendations. Not shown: Music videos; Podcasts.See the evidence Stream songs and albumscoreYesBrowse and stream music through Convx's InnerTube client. Playlists and librarycoreYesBuild queues and playlists Personalized mixes and recommendationsPartlymusic discovery, playback, lyrics, and your library Music videosNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it. LyricsYesFollow synchronized lyrics with word-level highlighting. Background and offline playbackYesSave music for offline listening PodcastsNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it.
SimpMusicCross-platform music app that uses YouTube Music as its backend	Not checked yet	13k+86	243	13 days ago	99%	Install like an app	GPL-3.0
kasetNative macOS app for YouTube and YouTube Music	Not checked yet	2.6k+14	66	34 days ago	51%	Install like an app	MIT
musikeCross-platform music player for the YouTube Music catalog, no account needed	Not checked yet	500+106	22	25 days ago	7%	Install like an app	MIT

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