What is Hound?
Hound is a fully-featured media server, like Jellyfin or Plex, but with the additional ability to stream content through P2P (torrent) or HTTP/Debrid sources. With Hound, you get the benefits of fully controlling your media like Jellyfin, but can also stream instantly like Stremio. It's the best of both worlds.
Hound is fully open source (AGPLv3) and self-hosted.
Demo
Access the demo here
username: selfhosted
password: passwordThe web app is not optimized for mobile yet, try using a desktop.
Features
These features come out of the box, without having to deploy additional services:
- Stream and download your own content from your drives, or stream content directly from P2P (torrent) and HTTP/Debrid sources through Stremio addons
- Trakt-like features, all your watches are automatically tracked and easily browsable
- Create custom collections/lists
- Add reviews and comments to your media
- Android and Android TV clients (iOS and tvOS coming soon)
- Focus on UI/UX, and Admin experience
- Really fast to setup, zero to watching content in <10 mins, few dependencies
Hound vs. Alternatives
| Feature | Hound | Plex | Jellyfin | Stremio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host and stream your own media | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Stream content instantly from P2P/Debrid sources | Yes (Debrid recommended) | No | No | Yes (Debrid recommended) |
| Downloading Content | Yes, through Hound itself and Stremio addons | Not handled by Plex (3rd party) | Not handled by Jellyfin (3rd party) | No |
| Detailed watch activity and statistics | Yes | No | No | No |
| Initial setup and deployment | Fast, most things out-of-the-box No need to set up multiple services | A bit more complicated Likely deploying a full stack of apps/services | A bit more complicated Likely deploying a full stack of apps/services | Fast, most things out-of-the-box |
| Transcoding | WIP | Yes (paid license for hardware transcoding) | Yes | On Web Client (?) |
| Pricing | All features free for one user, One lifetime license to unlock extra users | Freemium Subscription for extra features | Completely Free | Completely Free |
| Client Support | Limited Android & Android TV iOS & tvOS in progress | Extensive | Limited official clients Strong third-party support | Decent |
| Ecosystem | Fledgling | Mature | Mature | Mature |
| License | AGPLv3 | Proprietary | GNU GPL v2 | Open Core |
| Selfhosted / Privacy Notes | Fully open-source Self-hostable Fully private | Self-hostable but closed-source, remote auth required, questionable privacy | Fully open-source Self-hostable Fully private | Technically self-hostable, rare in practice |
Why was Hound Made?
I originally built Hound as a movie/show tracker a few years ago. I wanted a self-hosted version of Trakt with good UI/UX.
Some time ago, I set up a Jellyfin server for my family, but after a lot of effort deploying the whole suite, I came to the dreadful realization that they still preferred Netflix anyway.
Here are the observations that led me to build Hound:
Instant Streaming is important for a lot of people
- 'Storage is cheap,' is increasingly not true. The upfront cost of a few drives can be non-trivial for many, before extra electricity costs. Add redundancy, and we're looking at thousands.
- Sometimes, someone requests a full show, watches the first episode, and loses interest in 10 minutes. I find this wasteful.
- While hosting your own media is the correct self-hosted approach, from a user perspective, many prefer streaming.
- Although in the Plex/Jellyfin ecosystem, requesting media is now user-friendly and efficient, it still can't beat finding something, pressing play, and watching immediately, in seconds.
But I like having control over my media
- Movies and shows that I really like, and are particular about, I want to store
- I like the feeling of knowing that what's stored on my server, they can never be taken away from me
I wanted a solution where I could decide, when to download and when to stream.
To achieve both, I needed Jellyfin + the stack and Stremio, but this creates a fragmented experience, and Stremio isn't self-hosted. So I repurposed Hound from a media tracker to a media server. This had the added benefit of a well-integrated media server + tracker in one app.