Lidarr: the free music collection manager for Usenet and BitTorrent

Lidarr is a GPL-3 application you run on your own server. It watches the artists you follow, finds missing albums through your indexers, hands them to your download client, and upgrades files when a better version appears. What it replaces is the manual loop of searching, downloading, renaming and checking again.

How it works

You add an artist and pick a quality profile: the target format and bitrate you are willing to store. Lidarr queries your indexers for releases that match, scores them against that profile, and sends the winner to your download client. When the download finishes it imports the files, renames them to your pattern and files them under your root folder.

The monitoring is the part that earns its place. Lidarr checks RSS feeds for new releases from artists you follow, retries a failed download with another release rather than stopping, and rescans your library to find upgrades when something better appears.

What you need

• A machine to run it on: Docker, Windows, Linux, macOS or a Raspberry Pi.
• An indexer or two. Prowlarr can manage those for the whole *arr family.
• A download client, such as SABnzbd for Usenet or a BitTorrent client.
• Storage for the library and a root folder Lidarr is allowed to write to.
• Port 8686 open on the host, and a browser to reach the interface.

What it does well

• Artist-level monitoring, so new releases from a followed artist arrive without you searching.
• Quality upgrades on files you already have, which is the difference between a library and a collection you keep fixing.
• Failed-download handling that tries another release instead of leaving a gap.
• Renaming and folder rules that stay consistent across thousands of files.
• The same interface as Sonarr and Radarr, so learning one teaches you all three.

Where it falls short

• It is the middle of the chain, not the source. No indexer and no download client means nothing happens.
• Music metadata is messier than television. The project currently carries a notice that its metadata server is recovering and rebuilding its cache, which interrupts adding artists and importing libraries.
• There is no player. Lidarr organises; Navidrome, Plex or Jellyfin play.
• It assumes the *arr workflow. If your library is already complete and neatly tagged, this is more machinery than the job needs.

How to install Lidarr

Option 1, one-click install: Hostinger deploys Lidarr as a preconfigured Docker app on a managed server, so there is no command line and nothing to configure. It runs collection monitoring around the clock.

Option 2, install it yourself: docker run -d --name lidarr -p 8686:8686 -v /path/to/config:/config -v /path/to/music:/music linuxserver/lidarr, then open port 8686 and add your indexers and download client.

FAQ

Is Lidarr free? Yes, GPL-3.0 with no paid tier. The costs in a Lidarr setup come from indexers and Usenet providers, not from the software.

Does it download music on its own? It automates the search and the handoff. You supply the indexer and the download client; Lidarr decides what to grab and where it goes.

Why does adding an artist keep failing? Most often it is the metadata server, which the project says is rebuilding its cache. Check the project's status notice before debugging your own install.

Will it move and rename the files I already have? Yes, and test that on a copy first. The naming pattern is configurable and a dry run on one album shows exactly what will move.

Can I use it without Usenet or BitTorrent? Not really, that is what it is built around. A local-only library is better served by a tagger and organiser.

Does it play music? No. Point a media server at the folder it produces.

Last checked: November 2026. Licence read from the repository, and the metadata server notice is the one shown in the Lidarr README at the time of writing.