Yt-dlp
A feature-rich command-line tool for downloading audio and video from YouTube and other sites.
Looking for an open-source alternative to youtube-dl? Below are 4 community-built tools that offer similar functionality — all free, open source, and ready to use or self-host. Ranked by GitHub stars.
A feature-rich command-line tool for downloading audio and video from YouTube and other sites.
Self-hosted YouTube downloader with a web UI for youtube-dl and yt-dlp, allowing users to easily download videos from YouTube.
Streamlink is a command-line utility that allows you to extract video streams from popular streaming services and pipe them directly into a video player of your choice. It is widely used for watching live or on-demand content outside a browser.
YouTube.js is a powerful JavaScript client for YouTube's private InnerTube API, enabling developers to interact programmatically with YouTube's internal features that aren't available via the official public API.
The top picks from this list are Yt-dlp, Metube, Streamlink — all maintained, free to use, and self-hostable.
Yes. Every tool listed here is open source and free to use. Many can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure, which means no subscription fees and full control over your data.
Most of the alternatives listed are self-hostable. Check each tool's page for hosting details, system requirements, and licensing terms.
Get notified about new tools and updates to existing ones.