Strawberry
A music player and library organiser for large collections of files.
Instead of Spotify, iTunes
Screenshot from www.strawberrymusicplayer.org, taken 2026-10-29, shown to help you recognise the tool. It belongs to its maker. Ask us to remove it.
A big music collection kept in ordinary folders will outlast any player you use on it, and Strawberry is built for that kind of collection. It plays and organises music you own, with tags, playlists, smart lists and an equaliser, and it reads nearly every audio format. It began in 2018 as a fork of Clementine, it is GPL-3.0, and it also plays internet radio and Subsonic-compatible servers.
Strawberry scores a 5 on lock-in, self-direction and power, a 4 on footprint and a 3 on longevity and delivery.
The official Windows and Mac releases are currently limited to sponsors, so Delivery is a 3 for most people. On Linux it is free like everything else here.
Your library stays in the folders you already have, and the player is the part you can swap.
- Plays and organises music files you own
- Reads nearly every audio format
- Windows and Mac builds go to sponsors
What stands out
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For comparison, we also reviewed Spotify (14/30) as a benchmark.
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