Moodist

Ambient sounds for focus and calm, honestly reviewed. No upsell pitch, just what you actually get when you run it yourself.

TL;DR

• What it is: Open-source (MIT) ambient sound mixer — pick from 75+ sounds, blend them, save presets, and run productivity timers, all in a browser tab with zero tracking [README][5].
• Who it’s for: Remote workers, writers, and founders who pay $6–10/mo for Noisli or Brain.fm and would rather not. Also anyone who wants a distraction-free focus tool that runs on their own server without calling home [1][5].
• Cost savings: Noisli Pro runs $9/mo; Brain.fm runs $6.99/mo. Moodist self-hosted costs whatever your VPS costs — typically $0 if you’re already running a home server or NAS [1].
• Key strength: It’s tiny, fast, and opinionated. No accounts, no ads, no telemetry, no subscription nag. A Docker Compose file described as “a few lines of code” gets it running [1][README].
• Key weakness: No mobile app, no offline PWA mode, and the developer’s own follow-up project (Haus) trades Moodist’s preset-saving feature for a windowed UI — signaling the developer is moving on from this codebase [1].

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What is Moodist

Moodist is a browser-based ambient sound mixer. You open it, click sounds to activate them — rain, campfire, coffee shop, birds, thunder — adjust each volume slider independently, and build a layered soundscape that helps you focus or sleep. Nothing logs in. Nothing syncs to a cloud. The tab just plays sound.

That’s the whole pitch, and it’s intentional. The README describes it as “ambient sounds for focus and calm” [README]. The medevel.com write-up calls it a “free, open-source ambient sound app designed to boost focus and calm” [5]. No ambiguity about what it’s trying to do.

Beyond the sound mixer itself, Moodist includes a set of productivity utilities that live in the same tab:

• A Pomodoro timer for 25-minute work sessions [README][5]
• A sleep timer that fades sounds out after a set duration [README][5]
• A notepad for quick notes without switching apps [README][1]
• Breathing exercises with configurable patterns [1]
• Binaural beats and isochronic tones — the kind of content Brain.fm charges a subscription for [1]
• A Lo-Fi Girl stream built in as a default music option [1]
• Full keyboard shortcuts for everything [README]

The project is built on TypeScript, React, and Astro [README]. It has 3,379 GitHub stars and 298 forks as of this writing [merged profile]. The developer, remvze, is an individual contributor who also publishes “Buy Me a Coffee” links in the README — this is a solo passion project, not a company-backed open source effort.

That context matters. Moodist is stable and polished, but it’s also unmaintained in the sense that the developer’s active energy has shifted to Haus, a new project with overlapping functionality [1].

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Why people choose it

The selfh.st newsletter spotlighted Moodist in its January 2024 “New Software” roundup [3], which is typically how projects in this space first reach the self-hosted community. From there it spread through NAS forums and Docker deployment guides — DB Tech Reviews (dbtechreviews.com) did a hands-on deployment walkthrough comparing it directly to Haus [1].

The reasons people choose it over commercial alternatives are consistent across sources:

No subscription. Noisli Pro is $9/mo. Brain.fm is $6.99/mo. Focus@Will charges similarly. Moodist is $0 forever, with no free-tier limitations, because there’s no company with an investor to keep happy [1][5].

No tracking. The README lists “privacy focused: no data collection” as a feature, not an afterthought [README]. When you’re running ambient sounds during work, you’re also implicitly telling the service when you work, for how long, and on what schedule. Moodist collects none of that.

Actually self-hostable. The Docker Compose file is described by DB Tech as “incredibly simple, requiring just a few lines of code” with a standard 8080:8080 port mapping [1]. NAS users running Portainer or Synology Container Manager can deploy it in under five minutes.

It has more than just sound. The Pomodoro timer, sleep timer, breathing exercises, and binaural beats mean it competes with Focus@Will and Brain.fm on features, not just price [1][5].

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Features: what it actually does

Sound library:

• 75+ ambient sounds [README][5]
• Individual per-sound volume control
• Persistent sound selection (saved in browser local storage) [README][5]
• Shareable URLs for your current sound mix — you can send someone a link that opens the exact same soundscape [README][5]
• Custom named presets (e.g., “campfire rain,” “office background”) [README][1][5]

Productivity tools in the same tab:

• Pomodoro timer (25/5 cycle) [README][1][5]
• Sleep timer with automatic fadeout [README][5]
• Notepad — plain text, in-browser, no sync [README][1][5]
• Breathing exercises with configurable patterns [1]
• Binaural beats and isochronic tones [1]
• Lo-Fi Girl stream integration [1]
• Simple to-do list — listed as “soon” in the README, status unclear [README]

UX features:

• Keyboard shortcuts for all actions [README]
• No login or account required
• No data collection or analytics [README][5]
• Media controls (browser-native playback API) [README]

Self-hosting specifics:

• Docker image hosted on GitHub Container Registry [1]
• Docker Compose file included in repo [README][1]
• Nginx config in the repo for reverse proxy setup [README]
• Port 8080 by default, configurable [1]

The one thing worth noting on features: the README marks the to-do list as “soon” [README], and Vitest unit testing and Playwright end-to-end testing are both marked “soon” as well [README]. For a tool at 3,379 stars, the test coverage appears to be minimal or nonexistent. This is typical of solo developer projects but worth knowing if you’re evaluating it for reliability.

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Pricing: SaaS vs self-hosted math

Moodist has no pricing tiers because it has no business model. The software is free (MIT license) and the developer accepts voluntary donations via Buy Me a Coffee [README].

The commercial alternatives for comparison:

• Noisli Pro: $9/mo or $90/yr. Includes sound mixing, productivity timer, text editor. iOS and Android apps. No self-hosting option.
• Brain.fm: $6.99/mo or $49.99/yr. AI-generated focus music, not raw ambient sounds. No self-hosting.
• Focus@Will: ~$7/mo. Curated music for focus. No self-hosting.
• myNoise: Donation-based, runs in the browser. Similar concept but with more scientific backing on the sound design. No self-hosting.

Self-hosted Moodist cost:

• Software: $0 (MIT) [README]
• Hardware: whatever you’re already running. A Raspberry Pi, a NAS, a $5/mo VPS — any of these works.
• If you’re paying for a VPS anyway, Moodist adds $0 in marginal cost.

Concrete savings for a solo user: $9/mo Noisli Pro × 12 = $108/yr. Moodist self-hosted on existing hardware = $0/yr. The math is obvious if you’re already running a home server.

The more honest framing: this isn’t a cost-center tool for most businesses. It’s a personal productivity tool. The savings are real but modest compared to, say, escaping a $300/mo SaaS subscription. Choose Moodist because you want control and privacy, not primarily because it saves you a fortune.

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Deployment reality check

DB Tech Reviews walked through the deployment and called it straightforward [1]. The Docker Compose file is published in the repo and pulls from GitHub Container Registry [README][1].

What you actually need:

• Docker and docker-compose installed (any Linux, Mac, or Windows with Docker Desktop)
• A free port (8080 by default, remappable)
• Optional: a reverse proxy (Caddy or nginx) for HTTPS if you’re exposing it beyond localhost

What the actual docker-compose.yml gives you:

• Single container, no database, no Redis, no external dependencies — this is a static web app that gets served from a container [1][README]
• The nginx config in the repo handles the static file serving [README]

Time estimate for a technical user: 5–10 minutes. Pull the image, run docker-compose up -d, open the browser. There’s nothing to configure and no database to set up.

For a non-technical user: If you’ve never used Docker but are following a guide, budget 30–60 minutes including getting Docker installed on your NAS or VPS. DB Tech’s walkthrough covers the Synology/NAS path [1].

What can go sideways:

• If port 8080 is already in use, you remap the left side of the port line in docker-compose.yml [1]
• No HTTPS out of the box — you’ll need a reverse proxy if you want secure remote access
• No authentication — if you expose this publicly, anyone can access it. For a sound app with no accounts, this is usually fine, but know what you’re opening.

One thing worth flagging: Moodist’s Docker image is hosted on ghcr.io (GitHub Container Registry). If GitHub ever removes or restricts access to that image, self-hosters would need to build from source. The Dockerfile is in the repo, so this is recoverable, but it’s not a self-contained deployment in the way that some tools with their own registries are [README].

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Pros and cons

Pros

• Actually MIT licensed. The full codebase is MIT — you can fork, self-host, embed, or modify without restriction [README][5]. The audio assets are separately licensed (Pixabay and CC0), but the application code is clean [README].
• Zero dependencies to run. Single container, no database, no Redis, no external API keys required. If it’s running, it works. [1][README]
• No accounts, no telemetry. Sound preferences saved in browser local storage, not a server. Nothing leaves your machine [README][5].
• More than just sounds. The Pomodoro timer, sleep timer, breathing exercises, binaural beats, and Lo-Fi stream make it a full focus-session toolkit, not just a sound player [1][5].
• Preset sharing via URL is a surprisingly useful feature — you can share a soundscape link without the other person needing an account [README][5].
• 75+ sounds is a genuinely large library for a self-hosted tool. Commercial alternatives rarely exceed this at the free tier [README][5].
• Dead simple deployment. The Docker Compose described as “a few lines” is not marketing copy — it’s accurate [1].

Cons

• Solo project, shifting focus. The developer’s next project (Haus) replicates much of Moodist’s functionality with a different UI. Active development on Moodist appears to be slowing [1].
• Haus doesn’t save soundscapes. If you’re comparing Moodist to its own successor, you’d be trading preset-saving for windowed multi-tool UI. The developer hasn’t merged the best of both [1]. This suggests Moodist isn’t getting a major UI overhaul anytime soon.
• No mobile app. Moodist is a web app. It runs in a mobile browser, but there’s no native iOS or Android client. Noisli and Brain.fm both have dedicated mobile apps.
• To-do list is marked “coming soon.” Has been listed this way in the README for at least a year [README]. Don’t count on it.
• Tests are incomplete. Both Vitest and Playwright integrations are marked “soon” [README]. The test quality of the project is unknown.
• No authentication. Fine for home use, requires a reverse proxy with auth if you want to expose it to the internet.
• Binaural beats / isochronic tones are not explained. They’re listed as features [1] but there’s no documentation on what’s included, what frequencies, or what to expect. If this is a deciding feature for you, verify it meets your needs before deploying.

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Who should use this / who shouldn’t

Use Moodist if:

• You’re paying $7–10/mo for Noisli or Brain.fm and you already run Docker somewhere.
• You want ambient sounds with zero tracking and no account.
• You want a Pomodoro timer, sleep timer, and notepad in the same tool, without installing three separate apps.
• You’re on a NAS or home server looking for simple, lightweight utilities to add.

Skip it if:

• You need a mobile app. Moodist has no native mobile client; Noisli and Brain.fm do.
• You’re evaluating it for a team. There are no accounts, no admin controls, no multi-user anything. It’s a single-user personal tool.
• You want a tool that’s actively maintained by a team. This is one developer who has publicly moved on to a successor project [1].
• You’re looking for “AI-generated focus music” rather than manually blended ambient sounds. Brain.fm does that; Moodist doesn’t.

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Alternatives worth considering

• Haus — same developer, newer project. Modular windowed UI with the same tools (ambient sounds, breathing, Pomodoro, notepad). Loses preset-saving; gains multi-window layout. Self-hostable [1]. If you like Moodist’s feature set but want a more customizable layout, Haus is worth evaluating — with the caveat that it’s even newer and preset-saving appears to be missing [1].
• myNoise — browser-based, donation-supported, no self-hosting. More sophisticated on the psychoacoustics side (calibrated per-user hearing profiles). Good if you want sound backed by research rather than vibe.
• Noisli — the commercial standard. $9/mo Pro tier. iOS/Android apps. If you need mobile, Noisli is the cleaner commercial option.
• Brain.fm — AI-generated focus music, not ambient blending. $6.99/mo. Different use case — more like music than soundscape.
• Calmly — open-source distraction-free writing with ambient sounds. A narrower tool focused on writers.
• Ambient Mixer — browser-based, free tier, community-created soundscapes. No self-hosting, but a large sound library.

For the self-hosted community specifically, the shortlist is Moodist vs Haus. Choose Moodist if preset-saving matters to you. Choose Haus if you want a modular, windowed layout. Both are from the same developer, both are MIT, and neither requires a database.

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Bottom line

Moodist does one thing well: it lets you build a layered ambient soundscape, save presets, and run a Pomodoro timer in the same browser tab, with no account, no tracking, and no subscription. The Docker deployment is genuinely trivial, and the MIT license means you own what you run. The trade-offs are equally clear — it’s a solo project with shifting developer focus, no mobile app, and some promised features that haven’t shipped. If you’re paying Noisli or Brain.fm $7–10/mo and already have a server, the migration is a twenty-minute Docker task. If you need a mobile app or active commercial support, Moodist isn’t the right answer. For the self-hoster who just wants ambient rain and a Pomodoro timer without someone else’s server in the loop, it’s hard to beat.

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Sources

1. DB Tech Reviews — “Haus: A Different Kind of Productivity Dashboard for Your Home Lab” (includes Moodist comparison and Docker deployment walkthrough). https://dbtechreviews.com/2025/08/20/haus-a-different-kind-of-productivity-dashboard-for-your-home-lab/
2. Marius Hosting — Synology NAS Docker guide (contextual). https://mariushosting.com/page/77/
3. selfh.st — “This Week in Self-Hosted (5 January 2024)” — Moodist listed in New Software. https://selfh.st/weekly/2024-01-05/
4. MEDevel.com — Astro apps index featuring Moodist. https://medevel.com/tag/astro/
5. MEDevel.com — “Moodist - Free Self-hosted App for Creative People, Built with Astro, React and TypeScript”. https://medevel.com/moodist/

Primary sources:

• GitHub repository and README: https://github.com/remvze/moodist (3,379 stars, MIT license, 298 forks)
• Live demo: https://moodist.mvze.net
• Developer’s Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/remvze