Description
PeerTube is free, open-source software for sharing videos, developed by the French non-profit Framasoft, on which anyone can run a video platform that connects with the others, so there is no single company, ad business or recommendation algorithm in charge.
Framasoft, an association founded in 2004 and funded mainly by donations (94 % of its 2025 income), has developed PeerTube since 2018; the first stable version came out in October 2018, and the project credits support from the NLnet foundation. Two developers work on it. Platforms, called instances, are run by associations, universities, media and individuals, and connect through ActivityPub, the same protocol as Mastodon; viewers can also share video traffic peer to peer. The project counts about 1,600 platforms and 1,000,000 videos.
Viewers don’t need an account: videos can be found through SepiaSearch, Framasoft’s search engine across platforms, or through the official app for Android and iPhone, released in version 1 in May 2025. To publish, a creator joins an existing instance or installs their own. Version 8.3 came out on 15 September 2026.
Strengths
- No company owns the network, and the software shows no ads and pushes no algorithmic feed.
- It is open source, maintained by a donation-funded non-profit, and anyone can run their own instance.
- Instances connect to each other, so a channel on one platform can be followed from another, or from Mastodon.
Weaknesses
- There is far less content than on YouTube, and finding videos means browsing SepiaSearch or individual instances.
- Each instance sets its own rules and may close; creators depend on the people running their instance.
- Running an instance needs technical skills and storage, which is costly for video.
Who it is for
Associations, schools, media and creators who want to publish videos without ads or Google, and viewers who want to watch them without an account.
Sources
- PeerTube: home, FAQ, news, browse content (checked November 2026)
- Framasoft
- SepiaSearch