Comparisons
Moviebase vs Yamtrack (2026)
Updated Sep 18, 2026
Last checked 2026-09-18, live re-verified against Moviebase's site and Yamtrack's GitHub repository via the built-in browser pane. Moviebase ships weekly and Yamtrack is under active open-source development — re-verify specifics before relying on the feature list below.
Moviebase and Yamtrack sit on opposite sides of a question most trackers never ask: who runs the server? Moviebase is a free mobile app with a company behind it. Yamtrack is open-source software (AGPL-3.0) that you install yourself — on your own hardware or a cloud box you pay for — and it isn't limited to movies and TV at all.
What they have in common
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Both track movies and TV shows, with per-season and per-episode progress.
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Both support Trakt as an import/sync path — Moviebase syncs two-way with Trakt; Yamtrack imports from Trakt (alongside Simkl, MyAnimeList, AniList and Kitsu), with support for periodic automatic imports.
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Both let you build custom lists to organize what you're tracking beyond the default watched/watchlist split.
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Neither has a built-in household or joint-decision feature — Yamtrack's lists can add collaborators, but that's shared organizing, not a "what should we watch tonight" pick for a group.
Where they differ
Who runs it
Moviebase is a hosted product — install the app, create an account, and Moviebase's own servers do the rest; there is nothing to configure or maintain. Yamtrack is self-hosted software — you deploy it yourself via Docker (docker compose up -d), with SQLite or PostgreSQL as the database, and you own the box it runs on. That trade is the whole point of Yamtrack: full control over your data and no company able to shut the service down, in exchange for doing the hosting yourself.
Content scope
Moviebase covers movies and TV, full stop. Yamtrack tracks eight media types — movies, TV shows, anime, manga, video games, books, comics, and board games — in one system, with custom manual entries for anything its supported APIs don't cover.
Platform
Moviebase is phone-only — native iOS and Android apps, no browser-based tracker. Yamtrack is a self-hosted web app with no dedicated mobile app of its own; you reach it through whatever URL you deploy it at, from any device's browser. (A public demo is available at yamtrack.fuzzygrim.com, per the project's own README.)
Automation and integrations
Yamtrack integrates directly with Jellyfin, Plex and Emby to auto-track what you actually watched on those servers, plus notifications for upcoming releases via Apprise — which fans out to Discord, Telegram, ntfy, Slack, email and more. Moviebase's automation is narrower and centers on its Trakt sync and its own push notifications for new episodes and releases; it has no direct media-server integration of its own.
Cost
Moviebase: free to use, ad-supported, unlimited tracking; Premium price is undisclosed until checkout. Yamtrack: the software itself is free and open source (AGPL-3.0) with no paid tier at all — the only cost is whatever you pay to host it yourself (a home server, a cheap VPS, or nothing if you already run one).
Multi-user support
Yamtrack has built-in multi-user accounts with flexible authentication, including OIDC and 100+ social providers via django-allauth — one Yamtrack instance can serve a whole household or friend group, each with their own personalized tracking. Moviebase is single-account per install, with follows and an activity feed as its social layer rather than shared accounts on one instance.
Which one, if you have to pick
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Pick Moviebase if you want a free, install-and-go mobile app that tracks movies and TV specifically, with no server to maintain and no technical setup.
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Pick Yamtrack if you want to self-host your tracking data, need more than movies and TV (anime, books, games and more in one place), or want direct Jellyfin/Plex/Emby integration — and you're comfortable running Docker.
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Neither is a household decision tool by design. Yamtrack can host multiple accounts on one server, but each account still tracks and decides for itself. CouchReel's comparison pages cover the "what should everyone watch tonight" gap directly, if that's the one you're trying to close.