Beets

A command-line music library manager that tags your collection from MusicBrainz, fixes metadata and organizes files, extended by plugins.

15.9k stars, 2.2k forks Python On GitHub since August 2010

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

What is Beets?

Beets imports albums into a catalog and corrects their tags against MusicBrainz, showing a similarity score and proposed changes before it writes anything. Plugins add album art, lyrics, genres, tempo, ReplayGain and acoustic fingerprints, pull metadata from Discogs and Beatport, transcode audio, and find duplicates or albums with missing tracks. Queries let you list, move or export parts of the library. It is written in Python, installed from PyPI, and driven by the beet command.

Good fit if

  • You care about clean, consistent tags and folder names across a large music collection.
  • You feed a music server and want the files in order before it scans them.

Look elsewhere if

  • You want to stream the collection to a browser or phone: Navidrome or koel.

Before you adopt it

Beets is MIT-licensed and has no paid parts. It has been developed since 2010; one maintainer accounts for most recent commits among about a dozen contributors. It has no graphical interface by default, so expect to work in a terminal.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 31 October 2026. Report a correction

Beets health: is it still maintained?

81 of 100, actively developed

  • Activity
    469 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 2 November 2026.
    30 / 30
  • Contributors
    12 people wrote the latest 100 commits; the most active wrote 66% of them.
    15 / 20
  • Releases
    14 releases in the last 12 months; the latest, v2.14.1, on 17 September 2026.
    19 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 17% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 3 days.
    11 / 20
  • Security practices
    OpenSSF Scorecard 5.7 of 10.
    6 / 10

Read from GitHub on 4 November 2026. How the score works

Beets license: is it open source?

Beets uses MIT, an open-source license approved by the OSI.

  1. August 2010First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayMIT.

How to run Beets yourself

Docker
No Docker files in the repository
Compose file
None in the repository
Setup effort
Not rated: no compose file to judge from
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
No app builds in GitHub releases
Interface languages
English only

Install instructions: beets.io or the README on GitHub.

Alternatives to Beets

  • koelMusic streaming solution that works. 74 health · MIT · 17.3k stars
  • KodiKodi is an award-winning free and open source home theater/media center software and entertainment hub for… 71 health · GPL-2.0 · 21.4k stars
  • RadarrMovie organizer/manager for usenet and torrent users. 75 health · GPL-3.0 · 14.7k stars
  • JellyfinThe Free Software Media System - Server Backend & API 94 health · GPL-2.0 · 59k stars
  • NavidromeYour Personal Streaming Service 84 health · GPL-3.0 · 24.5k stars

All 13 projects in Media servers & streaming

Questions about Beets

Is Beets open source?

Yes. Beets is published under MIT, an OSI-approved open-source license.

Is Beets still maintained?

Its health score is 81 of 100 (actively developed). It had 469 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 2 November 2026, and its latest release came out on 17 September 2026.

How do I run Beets?

The repository has no Docker files or app builds, so you build it from source. The README on GitHub has the steps.

What are the alternatives to Beets?

Close alternatives in the Media servers & streaming category include koel, Kodi, Radarr.