Best Anthias Alternative (2026): Photon Signage vs Anthias
Anthias (formerly Screenly OSE) is a beloved free, open-source signage project for the Raspberry Pi. But it is built around one Pi driving one screen. Here is an honest comparison with Photon Signage for anyone who needs to manage more than a single display.
The short answer
Anthias is free, open source, and has been active since 2012 with around 3,500 GitHub stars. It runs on the Raspberry Pi 2 through 5 and positions itself as "free digital signage for everyone - no subscriptions, no cloud lock-in." It is essentially one-Pi-one-screen: single-screen oriented, with no multi-tenant or team management and a thin widget ecosystem. (Screenly is the paid-cloud parent product.)
Photon Signage is also free and self-hostable - but it adds a modern web dashboard, multi-device fleet management, video walls with multi-screen sync, group sync, scheduling and dayparting, players well beyond the Pi, and an optional managed cloud. It is the better fit the moment you go past a single screen.
Quick comparison
| Feature | Photon Signage | Anthias |
|---|---|---|
| Free & self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Raspberry Pi player | Free setup script | Yes (Pi 2-5) |
| Runs beyond Raspberry Pi | Android, Tizen, webOS, Fire TV, Vega, web | No (Pi only) |
| Modern web dashboard | Yes | Basic device UI |
| Multi-device fleet management | Yes | Limited (single-screen oriented) |
| Multi-tenant / team management | Yes | No |
| Video walls (multi-screen sync) | Yes | No |
| Group sync | Yes | No |
| Scheduling / dayparting | Yes | Basic |
| Multi-zone layouts | Yes | No |
| Widget ecosystem | YouTube, RSS, Weather, Webpage, more | Thin |
| Live remote control* | Yes | No |
| Optional managed cloud | Yes | Via Screenly (paid) |
| Self-host cost | Free (your server) | Free (your Pi) |
* Live remote control is Android only and requires granting the on-device accessibility permission.
Comparison as of July 2026, based on each project's publicly listed documentation and repositories. Spot an error? Let us know and we'll fix it.
Where Anthias does well
- Dead-simple single Pi setup. If you have one Raspberry Pi and one screen showing a rotating playlist, Anthias is lightweight and gets you there fast.
- Genuinely free and open. No subscriptions, no cloud lock-in, active since 2012 with a large community (~3,500 GitHub stars).
- Low footprint. Purpose-built for the Pi, so it runs well on modest hardware.
Where Photon Signage is the better choice
- You have more than one screen. Anthias is single-screen oriented with no multi-tenant or team management. Photon Signage is built around multi-device fleet management from the start.
- You need video walls or synced screens. Photon Signage does video walls with multi-screen sync and per-group synchronized playback. Anthias does not.
- You run mixed hardware. Beyond the Pi, Photon Signage has native players for Android TV, Fire TV, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Amazon Vega OS, and any web browser. Anthias is Raspberry Pi only.
- You want real scheduling and widgets. Dayparting, content expiry, and native widgets (YouTube, RSS, Weather, Clock, plus a universal Webpage widget for any framable URL) go well past Anthias's basic scheduling and thin widget set.
- You want the option of managed cloud later. Self-host for free now, and move to the managed cloud without changing products if you ever want hosting handled for you.
Pricing snapshot
Both Anthias and self-hosted Photon Signage are free - Anthias on your Raspberry Pi, Photon Signage on a $5 VPS that comfortably runs hundreds of screens. The difference is not price but reach: Photon Signage adds fleet management, video walls, group sync, and multi-platform players at the same free-and-self-hosted price point, plus an optional managed cloud (Free, Starter $39/mo, Pro $99/mo) if you would rather not run a server.