There are several projects that have emerged over time allowing you to set up your own YouTube front end. These range from options that can be deployed in a Docker container to those compatible with your preferred operating system. If you own a NAS like the 4 Bay UGREEN (Available on Amazon.com) or use solutions like TrueNas, Unraid, or even a Windows machine, you have various possibilities for self-hosting your personal YouTube interface.
Invidious Overview
Invidious is likely one of the more recognized YouTube front ends, and it has certainly caught Google's eye. This project can be hosted in a Docker container, but many public servers are maintained by the Invidious community as well. It allows users to subscribe to channels, read comments from Reddit, download videos, and even reroute embedded YouTube videos to your hosted instance using a browser extension.
When it functions properly, it performs excellently. There are also applications available for both iOS and Android, enabling you to access your hosted server and watch videos through an app. However, the container necessitates frequent restarts, and some videos show a message stating “The media could not be loaded,” which often leads to a fair amount of troubleshooting to resolve. The FAQ section of Invidious even hints at giving up and just watching the video on YouTube in certain cases.
Exploring ViewTube
Like Invidious, ViewTube operates within a container. According to the official wiki, installing ViewTube also requires two additional containers: MongoDB and Redis. While running three containers for your own YouTube front end might seem excessive, there is an all-in-one container created by mvanduijker available on GitHub. You can also opt for ViewTube's own hosted instance.
After installation, ViewTube offers a similar, yet arguably more aesthetically pleasing interface than Invidious. Video playback is smooth, and the platform provides trending and suggested videos based on your viewing habits. You can still redirect embedded videos to your hosted interface, and aside from a brief low-resolution buffer at the beginning, the content loads quickly and in high quality.
Where ViewTube fell short, at least for me, was the search feature, which seemed to work intermittently at the beginning of a session before failing. Like Invidious, you can import your YouTube subscriptions, so there are workarounds, but for spontaneous searches, it was nearly ineffective.
FreeTube's Unique Approach
FreeTube differs from the other options mentioned as it can run as a standalone application on any desired machine, whether it’s Windows, macOS, or Linux. It can also be deployed in a Docker container, with a prebuilt container available for Unraid. However, unlike the others, the FreeTube container effectively operates the Linux app within a virtual machine, which introduces latency when connecting through VNC, making it less viable.
That said, when running natively on an operating system, the app has a clean interface and is the most reliable of the three regarding searching and watching videos. It also allows redirects from embedded content through the (now deprecated) FreeTube redirect browser extension. However, this lacks the flexibility of viewing content across different devices on your home network, as you are restricted to the machine where it’s installed.
Conclusion
Each of these solutions has its drawbacks. None encountered any major app-breaking issues, but all three options are not particularly straightforward.
Whether it's the time spent fixing Invidious, the challenges with ViewTube's search function or imported subscriptions, or being limited to a single device with FreeTube, the time investment may not be worth the results.
With dedicated applications offering YouTube front ends like NewPipe or Louis Rossman's GrayJay app, it becomes difficult to rationalize the time and effort needed to host such a service on your own.
The existence of these options is a testament to the open-source community, but for those wishing to escape YouTube's tracking, there might be simpler and less time-consuming alternatives.
Invidious on GitHub, ViewTube, FreeTube.
