# owncast/owncast

Take control over your live stream video by running it yourself.  Streaming + chat out of the box.

Repository: https://github.com/owncast/owncast
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/owncast
Homepage: https://owncast.online
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: video, streaming-video, livestream, hls, chat, rtmp, broadcasting, self-hosted, golang, live, owncast, activitypub, decentralized, federation, fediverse, hacktoberfest
Last push: 2026-08-26T23:40:09+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 88/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 66, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2293, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 144, "gap_med": 90, "n_releases_24m": 6}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 11474, forks 1212 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:48.250835+00:00)

## What it is
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
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: http-server, websocket, chat-interface, video-processing, self-hosted, webhook, plugin-system
- domain: media, self-hosted, web-development
- platform: windows, self-hosted, go
- tags: livestreaming, rtmp, hls, fediverse, activitypub, chat, streaming-server, obs, real-time, video, linux, macos, docker, web-server

## Member repositories
- owncast/owncast (main) score 88

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:48.250835+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:15:33.960147+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/owncast/owncast (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:48.250835+00:00, sha a106ec1ff5a1)
  - homepage: https://owncast.online (fetched 2026-08-29T08:14:21.348028+00:00, sha da154d201692)
  - site_page: https://owncast.online/quickstart (fetched 2026-08-29T08:14:21.364679+00:00, sha c1389e5c46cf)
  - site_page: https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/plugins (fetched 2026-08-29T08:14:21.357345+00:00, sha e89969f7222a)
  - site_page: https://owncast.online/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T08:14:21.359527+00:00, sha 1bbc36a48780)
  - site_page: https://owncast.online/docs/chat (fetched 2026-08-29T08:14:21.366738+00:00, sha 420fe6aa21fe)
  - site_page: https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/appearance (fetched 2026-08-29T08:14:21.368620+00:00, sha 0e86cde4b830)
  - site_page: https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/notifications (fetched 2026-08-29T08:14:21.370775+00:00, sha fc7a919c95e1)
  - site_page: https://owncast.online/docs/social/the-fediverse (fetched 2026-08-29T08:14:21.372717+00:00, sha 6814d2f8cd00)
  - site_page: https://owncast.online/releases (fetched 2026-08-29T08:14:21.361300+00:00, sha 8ced8c197d56)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.