owncast/owncast
Take control over your live stream video by running it yourself. Streaming + chat out of the box. observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
88/100
- Activity 99
- Release rhythm 66
- Longevity 100
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: 90
- age_days: 2293
- days_rel: 144
- days_push: 7
- n_releases_24m: 6
Adoption not part of the score
11474 stars · 1212 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded
Owncast is a self-hosted, single-user live video streaming and chat server written in Go, offering an alternative to mainstream streaming platforms with full ownership of content, branding, moderation, and audience. It accepts RTMP input from standard broadcasting software, serves HLS video with built-in web chat, and federates with the fediverse via ActivityPub.
Use cases
- run my own live streaming server instead of Twitch or YouTube
- self-host a livestream with built-in chat and moderation
- stream from OBS to my own domain
- let Mastodon followers know when I go live
- add chat bots and overlays to my stream
- host a private stream with no viewer limits or ads
- send browser or Discord notifications when the stream starts
When to choose
- you want full control and ownership over your live stream, branding, and audience data
- you need a single self-contained service with streaming and chat out of the box
- you want fediverse integration so people can follow your stream from Mastodon
- you need no subscriptions, viewer limits, or forced ads
When to avoid
- you need multi-user or multi-channel streaming for many streamers on one server
- you require large-scale CDN-grade distribution to huge audiences out of the box
- you want built-in video-on-demand hosting and transcoding pipelines rather than live streaming
Facets
application · maturity active
http-server websocket chat-interface video-processing self-hosted webhook plugin-system media self-hosted web-development windows self-hosted go livestreaming rtmp hls fediverse activitypub chat streaming-server obs real-time video linux macos docker web-server
10 sources
- readme: https://github.com/owncast/owncast · fetched 2026-08-28 · a106ec1ff5a1
- homepage: https://owncast.online · fetched 2026-08-29 · da154d201692
- site_page: https://owncast.online/quickstart · fetched 2026-08-29 · c1389e5c46cf
- site_page: https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/plugins · fetched 2026-08-29 · e89969f7222a
- site_page: https://owncast.online/docs · fetched 2026-08-29 · 1bbc36a48780
- site_page: https://owncast.online/docs/chat · fetched 2026-08-29 · 420fe6aa21fe
- site_page: https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/appearance · fetched 2026-08-29 · 0e86cde4b830
- site_page: https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/notifications · fetched 2026-08-29 · fc7a919c95e1
- site_page: https://owncast.online/docs/social/the-fediverse · fetched 2026-08-29 · 6814d2f8cd00
- site_page: https://owncast.online/releases · fetched 2026-08-29 · 8ced8c197d56
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| owncast/owncast | main | 88 |
For agents
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem