13.2k
Metube
Self-hosted YouTube downloader with a web UI for youtube-dl and yt-dlp, allowing users to easily download videos from YouTube.
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Web🏠
Self-Hosted🛠️
Tools🌐
Web
4 Open Source Alternatives to yt-dlp
Looking for an open-source alternative to yt-dlp? 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.
11.4k
Streamlink
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.
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CLI🛠️
Tools🌐
Web
4.6k
YouTube.js
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.
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API🟡
JavaScript👨💻
Development
6
Youtube-transcript-generator
An Express.js-based service that fetches YouTube video information and generates transcripts (subtitles) in any available language. It leverages the ytdl-core library to extract video metadata and the youtube-captions-scraper library to retrieve subtitles, providing an easy way to access and utilize YouTube video captions programmatically.
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API🌐
Web👨💻
Development
Frequently asked questions
What are the best open-source alternatives to yt-dlp?
The top picks from this list are Metube, Streamlink, YouTube.js — all maintained, free to use, and self-hostable.
Are these alternatives to yt-dlp free?
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.
Can I self-host an alternative to yt-dlp?
Most of the alternatives listed are self-hostable. Check each tool's page for hosting details, system requirements, and licensing terms.
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