Watcharr

Open-source media tracking, honestly reviewed. No marketing fluff, just what you get when you self-host it.

TL;DR

• What it is: Open-source (GPL-3.0) self-hosted watched list for movies, TV shows, anime, and games — think Letterboxd or Trakt.tv, but running on your own server [README].
• Who it’s for: Self-hosters who want to own their viewing history and escape platforms that lock exports behind paywalls or disappear overnight [5].
• Cost savings: Trakt.tv charges for export features and VIP perks. Watcharr self-hosted runs on a $5–6/mo VPS with no subscription and no data hostage situation.
• Key strength: Genuinely simple to set up — Docker Compose, one config file, done. Clean UI built in Go and SvelteKit. Does what it says on the tin [README].
• Key weakness: 1,302 GitHub stars puts it firmly in the “small community” tier. One self-hoster tried it and moved to Ryot instead [1]. Third-party reviews are nearly nonexistent. If you need a fully-featured media management platform (books, podcasts, fitness), this isn’t it.

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What is Watcharr

Watcharr is a self-hosted watched list. You log in, search for a movie or TV show, mark it as watched, planning to watch, or currently watching, rate it, and move on. That’s the core loop, and it executes it cleanly.

The GitHub description is blunt and accurate: “Open source, self-hostable watched list for all your content (movies, tv series, anime, games) with user authentication, modern and clean UI and a very simple setup.” [README] No mission statements about democratizing content discovery. No AI-powered recommendations positioning statement. It’s a list tracker.

Under the hood it’s Go (backend) and SvelteKit (frontend) — a modern, lightweight combination that keeps resource usage low [website]. Metadata comes from TMDB for movies and TV shows, with optional IGDB integration for game tracking if you configure the API key separately [README]. Anime works through the same TMDB pipeline.

The project sits at 1,302 GitHub stars. There’s a live demo at https://beta.watcharr.app that runs the latest dev build. The codebase is actively developed under GPL-3.0. There’s a Matrix room for community support and a standard GitHub issues tracker [README].

What Watcharr is not: it’s not a media server (that’s Jellyfin/Plex), not a download manager (that’s Sonarr/Radarr), and not a full-featured media review platform with books and fitness tracking (that’s Ryot). It’s a watched list with good UI. Understanding that scope is the entire decision.

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Why people choose it

The honest answer from the available evidence is that Watcharr doesn’t have a loud enthusiast community writing dedicated reviews. What it has is a niche: people who want a private, self-hosted Trakt.tv without the subscription friction.

The frustration that drives people toward Watcharr is articulated best in a 2025 piece surveying TV tracker options [5]. The author describes the defining problem with mainstream trackers: data export is either missing, paywalled, or API-only. Trakt.tv locks export behind VIP. Serializd admits in its own docs that export doesn’t exist yet. The author’s conclusion is pointed: “Considering how long it takes to put all that data in manually, do you really want to have to do it again some day when the site inevitably goes under or gets bought by a UAE hedge fund?” [5]

That’s the emotional context for Watcharr. When you self-host, you own the database. You can back it up. You can move it. Nobody can raise your bill or remove features. The GPL-3.0 license means even if the original developer abandons the project, the code stays available to fork and maintain.

One data point worth flagging: a self-hosted services repository [1] lists Watcharr in its “Archived” section — services tested but eventually shelved — while Ryot occupies the actively-maintained media tracking slot. This doesn’t mean Watcharr is bad; it means one person’s needs outgrew a simple watched list and they moved to a heavier tool. Whether that matters depends entirely on your requirements.

The Svelte Themes listing [2] confirms the technology and the pitch without adding much: “Open source, self-hostable watched list for all your content (movies, tv series, anime, games).” For the AlternativeTo crowd [4], Watcharr fits between the simple episode trackers (SeriesGuide, Trakt) and full media management platforms.

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Features

Based on the README and website, here’s what Watcharr actually ships:

Core tracking:

• Watched, watching, planned, and other status states for movies and TV shows [README]
• Rating system [README]
• Episode-level tracking for TV series and anime [README]
• Video game tracking via optional IGDB API configuration [README]
• User authentication — multiple accounts can coexist on one instance [README]

Discovery and metadata:

• Browse trending and popular content [website]
• Full content details pages: cast, crew, descriptions, metadata [website]
• Actor/director profile pages [website]

User experience:

• Personal statistics and watch history [website]
• Light and dark theme [website]
• Mobile-responsive design [screenshots in README]
• Clean poster-grid UI with hover states for quick status changes [README screenshots]

Community tools:

• Kodi plugin (community-made) for automatically syncing what you watch on Kodi to Watcharr [README]

What’s not built-in:

• Automatic media server integration (Plex/Jellyfin/Emby scrobbling) — you use the Kodi plugin or log manually
• Import from Trakt, Letterboxd, or similar — no documented bulk import [README]
• Social features, friend lists, or public profiles
• Recommendation engine
• Books, music, podcasts — strictly movies/TV/anime/games

The feature set is intentionally minimal. The README’s own framing — “I’m your new easily self-hosted content watched list” — signals this is not trying to be Ryot. For the use case it targets, the features are complete. For anything beyond that use case, look elsewhere.

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Pricing: SaaS vs self-hosted math

Watcharr has no cloud SaaS version. It’s strictly self-hosted, which means:

• Software license: $0 (GPL-3.0)
• VPS to run it: $5–6/month on Hetzner or Contabo
• Your time: 15–30 minutes initial setup

What you’d pay elsewhere:

Trakt.tv’s VIP subscription is roughly $4–5/month (pricing varies by region). That buys you features that should be free: data export, advanced filtering, no ads. At scale the comparison barely matters financially — we’re talking $50–60/year either way. The real cost of Trakt.tv isn’t dollars, it’s dependency: export locked behind subscription, API deprecations, and the general risk of a niche platform folding [5].

Simkl is freemium and has broader integrations, but again: proprietary, their database, their rules [4].

Letterboxd (movies-only) charges $2.99–$8.99/month for Pro/Patron tiers that unlock export features and advanced stats.

For a tool this simple, the self-hosting math isn’t about saving money — you’re not going to retire on the $5/month delta. The value is data ownership and zero subscription surface area.

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Deployment reality check

The setup story is one of Watcharr’s genuine strengths. The README ships with a docker-compose.yml and the documentation covers installation in the first section [README][website]. The website claims “Install within the minute,” which is optimistic but not absurd for someone comfortable with Docker.

What you actually need:

• A Linux VPS with 1GB RAM (this is not resource-intensive — Go backend, static SvelteKit frontend)
• Docker and docker-compose
• A reverse proxy (Caddy or nginx) for HTTPS if you’re exposing it to the internet
• A domain name, or access via LAN IP if it’s internal-only

What Watcharr handles for you:

• Database (SQLite by default — no Postgres to configure)
• User authentication
• TMDB metadata fetching (you provide a TMDB API key, which is free)

What can go sideways:

• Game tracking requires a separate IGDB API key and extra configuration steps [README]
• No built-in backup tooling — you’re responsible for backing up the data directory
• The beta demo (https://beta.watcharr.app) runs the dev branch, meaning you might see features that aren’t in the stable release yet
• Community size is small; if you hit a weird bug, response time in GitHub issues may be slower than larger projects

Realistic time for a technical user: 15–30 minutes on a fresh VPS, including HTTPS setup with Caddy. For a non-technical user following a guide carefully: 1–2 hours, mostly spent on domain and reverse proxy configuration rather than Watcharr itself.

The SQLite default is worth highlighting positively. It means no separate database container, simpler backups (copy one file), and lower memory overhead. For a personal-scale watched list, SQLite handles the load fine.

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Pros and cons

Pros

• Genuinely simple setup. SQLite default, single Docker container, minimal configuration. Not every self-hosted tool can claim this [README].
• Clean, modern UI. Built in SvelteKit — the interface looks and feels current, not like a PHP app from 2009. Screenshots in the README back this up [README].
• You own your data. No subscription, no export paywall, no vendor lock-in. The database file sits on your server [README][5].
• Multi-content-type. Movies, TV, anime, and games in one interface with optional IGDB support [README].
• Active development. The project tracks upcoming version milestones publicly on GitHub [README].
• Community Kodi plugin. Passive tracking from your media center is possible without manual logging [README].
• GPL-3.0 license. Copyleft — modifications must stay open. Transparent, auditable codebase [merged profile].
• Low resource footprint. Go backend means it runs comfortably on the smallest VPS tier.

Cons

• Small community, 1,302 stars. Compare to Trakt.tv’s millions of users or even Ryot’s more active GitHub. Bug reports may sit unanswered longer. Niche bugs may never get fixed [merged profile].
• No native scrobbling. You can’t connect it to Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby to automatically mark things watched as you watch them. The Kodi plugin is community-maintained [README].
• No import tooling. Moving your history from Trakt.tv or Letterboxd requires manual data entry. This is a real friction point [5].
• Data export situation unclear. The irony is that the whole self-hosted premise is about owning your data, but there’s no documented one-click export from Watcharr’s own interface. Your data is in an SQLite file, which is accessible — but there’s no CSV export button [README][5].
• At least one self-hoster moved away. The archived status in [1] is a minor signal, but it suggests the feature set eventually feels thin for heavier users who switch to Ryot.
• IGDB game tracking requires extra configuration. It’s not zero-setup for that feature specifically [README].
• GPL-3.0 vs MIT. If you want to embed or commercially redistribute, GPL-3.0 is more restrictive than MIT. Not relevant for personal use, matters for product use.
• No social features. If you want to see what friends are watching or share a public profile, this isn’t the tool.

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Who should use this / who shouldn’t

Use Watcharr if:

• You want a simple, private watched list for movies, TV, and anime that you control entirely.
• You’ve been burned by Trakt.tv’s paywall, Letterboxd’s subscription tiers, or Simkl’s proprietary lock-in.
• You already run other self-hosted services and adding one Docker container is a ten-minute operation.
• You don’t need scrobbling — you’re comfortable marking things watched manually or through Kodi.
• You want lightweight, not feature-complete.

Skip it and use Ryot instead if:

• You want to track books, podcasts, fitness, and workouts alongside media [3].
• You need import from Trakt.tv, Goodreads, or other platforms — Ryot has documented migration tooling [3].
• You want active integrations with Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby for automatic tracking.
• You need a more mature community and faster bug response.

Skip it and use Trakt.tv instead if:

• You want platform integrations with every streaming service and media player out of the box.
• You’re not comfortable managing Docker containers.
• Community recommendations and social discovery matter to you.

Skip it and use Letterboxd if:

• Your tracking is movies-only and you value the social and review community aspects.

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Alternatives worth considering

• Ryot — the most direct self-hosted competitor. Broader scope: movies, TV, anime, books, podcasts, fitness. More active development, more complex setup. Documented import paths from Trakt, Letterboxd, and others. One self-hoster switched from Watcharr to Ryot specifically [1][3].
• Trakt.tv — the incumbent cloud option. Massive integration catalog, works with every media player, VIP subscription required for export and advanced features [5][4].
• Simkl — freemium, broader than Trakt for anime coverage, proprietary SaaS [4].
• Jellyfin + Trakt plugin — if you already run Jellyfin as your media server, the Trakt plugin gives you automatic scrobbling without a separate tracker database.
• Letterboxd — movies-only, excellent for reviews and social discovery, subscription for exports.
• Tonkatsu Box — MIT-licensed, open-source, covers games/movies/TV/anime in visual boards. Smaller and more recent than Watcharr [4].

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Bottom line

Watcharr does one thing: it gives you a clean, self-hosted watched list that doesn’t hold your data hostage. The setup is genuinely easy, the UI looks modern, and the resource footprint is minimal. If your current pain is paying Trakt.tv for features that should be free, or watching another niche tracker shut down with your data inside it, Watcharr solves that problem cheaply and reliably.

The limitations are real: small community, no native scrobbling, unclear data export from within the UI, and a feature set that serious users will eventually outgrow in favor of Ryot. But for someone who wants a simple, private, self-hosted list and nothing more — the scope is the point, not a flaw.

If the Docker setup is the blocker, that’s exactly what upready.dev deploys for clients. One-time fee, running in an afternoon, you own the infrastructure.

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Sources

1. pleonex/self-hosting — Self-hosted services documentation (Codeberg.org). Lists Watcharr under “Archived” services, with active media tracking moved to Ryot. https://codeberg.org/pleonex/self-hosting

2. Svelte Themes — anime category listing (sveltethemes.dev). Indexes Watcharr as an open-source, self-hostable watched list built with Go and SvelteKit. https://sveltethemes.dev/category/anime

3. Ryot Documentation — Migration guide (docs.ryot.io). Documents migration paths from older Ryot versions; used for comparative context on Ryot as the primary self-hosted alternative. https://docs.ryot.io/migration

4. AlternativeTo — Apps with ‘Movie tracker’ feature (alternativeto.net). Lists competing tools including Trakt.tv, Simkl, Tonkatsu Box, and SeriesGuide with license and platform metadata. https://alternativeto.net/feature/movie-tracker/

5. An Archaeopteryx — “TV & Media Trackers in 2025” (anarchaeopteryx.bearblog.dev, December 2025). First-person account of evaluating TV tracker options; documents data export paywall problems on Trakt, Simkl, and others as core motivation for self-hosting. https://anarchaeopteryx.bearblog.dev/2025-12-25-tv-media-trackers-2025/

Primary sources:

• GitHub repository and README: https://github.com/sbondco/watcharr (1,302 stars, GPL-3.0 license)
• Official website and documentation: https://watcharr.app
• Live demo instance: https://beta.watcharr.app