Nightingale
Free open-source karaoke software that turns your own music library into a scored, word-synced singing rig.
For anyone who already runs Plex, Jellyfin, or Navidrome and owns the music, Nightingale is the karaoke pick — per-character CJK romanization is the thing paid rivals don't do, and v1.3.0's local multiplayer plus queue make hosting a real party workable. Come empty-handed, though, and it's a brick: there's no catalog, and setup is rougher than a streaming app. You shouldn't pay for it in the license sense, but the Patreon button exists for a reason.
Verified 2d ago · liveness 75/100 · cite: rightaichoice.com/tools/nightingale
- Karaoke fans with a large library on a folder, Plex, Jellyfin, or Navidrome
- Party hosts wanting a private, offline rig with queue and per-singer scoring
- Polylingual singers who need Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese, or Korean with romanized readings
- Self-hosters comfortable running a Linux box or Docker container for whole-home access
- Users with no music files and no interest in building a library — there's no built-in catalog
- People wanting instant online karaoke with curated songs (Karafun, Smule fit better)
- Non-technical users expecting phone support and polished consumer onboarding
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Skip Nightingale if you don't own a music library and want to open an app and sing right now — it has no catalog, and Karafun or Smule will serve you far better on day one.
Stem separation is CPU- or GPU-bound rather than metered, so the real cost of a big library is hours of local compute — a GPU pays for itself here.
Nightingale is $0 under GPL-3.0 with every capability unlocked — no tiers, no seat counts, no usage caps. That puts it below Karafun's subscription (roughly $10/mo territory) and Smule's freemium coin model, where song access is metered. You fund it voluntarily via recurring Patreon support or one-off Ko-fi tips if you want the project to keep shipping.
In short
Nightingale — Free open-source karaoke software that turns your own music library into a scored, word-synced singing rig. Best for Karaoke fans with a large library on a folder, Plex, Jellyfin, or Navidrome, Party hosts wanting a private, offline rig with queue and per-singer scoring, Polylingual singers who need Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese, or Korean with romanized readings. Free to use.
What's new in Nightingale
Checked todayAcross the latest 1 update: 1 feature update.
What people actually say about Nightingale — is it worth it?
We scanned public community sources for Nightingale on Aug 29, 2026 and could not establish that the discussion we found is about this tool rather than something else sharing its name. Our own analysis of that scan says the posts were off-subject. Rather than publish a sentiment score built on the wrong subject, we publish nothing here and re-run the scan.
Viability Score
How well maintained and how widely used is Nightingale? Built from what the vendor actually publishes (docs, changelog, tutorials, integrations, pricing), whether the site is live, and how much real users discuss it. How we calculate this
Last calculated: October 2026
How we score →Key Features
- ML vocal separation via UVR Karaoke model or Demucs
- Adjustable guide vocal, or sing over the original mix
- Word-level lyric transcription and alignment with Whisper
- Pluggable ASR: Whisper default, experimental Parakeet (~25 European languages)
- Per-character CJK forced alignment for Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese, Korean
- Romanized readings: Hepburn, pinyin, Jyutping, Revised Romanization
- LRCLIB lyric matching plus in-app lyric editor
- Bring your own LRC, Enhanced LRC, or pasted plain/timed lyrics
- Word-level LRC alignment while preserving original line timing
- UltraStar Deluxe (USDX) folder import, experimental, no analysis pass
- Real-time pitch scoring with star ratings and per-song scoreboards
- Global and personal-best leaderboards (v1.1.0)
- Local multiplayer for two to four singers with separate mics and ranked results
- Playback queue management and dedicated Session mode (v1.2.0)
- Folder-first browsing with shared-cache rescans across machines (v1.3.0)
About Nightingale
Nightingale is self-hosted karaoke software for people who own their music. Instead of renting a licensed song catalog, you point it at a local folder or connect Plex, Jellyfin, or Navidrome and it builds an instrumental on the fly, either by separating lead vocals with UVR or Demucs or by letting you sing over the original mix. Lyrics come from a local LRC file, pasted text, an LRCLIB match, or automatic transcription and alignment with Whisper or experimental Parakeet, and an in-app editor handles fixes you'd otherwise redo by hand. Scoring is the core loop. A microphone feeds real-time pitch scores, star ratings, and per-song scoreboards, with key and tempo adjustable mid-song so a track you know but can't quite reach still works. Versions 1.1.0 through 1.3.0 layered on the party features: global and personal-best leaderboards, prebuilt Docker images for CPU or CUDA, a queue with Session mode, word-level alignment for existing LRC files, folder-first browsing, and local multiplayer for two to four singers, each with their own profile, mic, color, and place in the final ranking. The CJK story is the differentiator. Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese, and Korean songs get per-character forced alignment with romanized readings (Hepburn, pinyin, Jyutping, Revised Romanization) shown above each token, which is thin on the ground elsewhere. Backgrounds can be audio-reactive visuals, an image, or a looping video from a local file or HTTPS link. It ships as native builds for Linux, macOS, and Windows, uses GPU acceleration via CUDA or Metal with a CPU fallback, and can run as a home web server so guests open it from a browser. It's GPL-3.0-or-later, built by one developer, and funded through Patreon or Ko-fi. If you want a karaoke app you install and use the same evening, Karafun or Smule will get you singing sooner; Nightingale asks you to bring the library first.
Behind the Verdict
Nightingale's pitch is simple: your library, your living room, no subscription. In practice that trade means you supply the songs and it supplies the pipeline — vocal separation, lyric sourcing, word-level alignment, pitch scoring, and a queue for whoever grabs the mic next. We'd reach for this if you already have a Plex, Jellyfin, or Navidrome setup and a folder full of tracks. The folder-first browsing and shared-cache rescans in v1.3.0 matter more than they sound: on a large collection, reusing completed analyses from another machine saves hours of stem separation. Where it bites is horsepower. CPU stem separation is slow on big libraries, so a GPU (CUDA or Metal) is close to a requirement if you're prepping a party setlist, not just one song. Non-technical users who expect phone support and polished onboarding will bounce. And if you have no music files and no intention of building a library, there's nothing here for you — Karafun or Smule will get you singing in minutes. The closest comparison is Karafun: a licensed catalog with curated, ready-to-sing tracks versus zero catalog and you-own-it flexibility. Pick Nightingale if ownership and privacy win; pick Karafun if the song list matters more than the setup. The CJK work is why we keep it in the recommendation. Per-character forced alignment with Hepburn, pinyin, Jyutping, and Revised Romanization readings above each token is a genuinely narrow market — most paid apps phone this in. If you sing Japanese or Chinese songs, that alone justifies the install. It's one developer, GPL-3.0-or-later, funded on Patreon and Ko-fi, and it ships from v1.1.0 through v1.3.0 in quick succession — a healthy release cadence for a solo project. Budget a weekend to learn the lyric editor and your GPU path, then it runs itself.
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Real-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas Nightingale actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
Install the Linux build on the media box, connect the Jellyfin library or point at the music folder, let Nightingale bootstrap ffmpeg and the UVR/Demucs models, then batch-analyze a playlist so vocals are separated and lyrics transcribed before anyone arrives.
Outcome: A ready-to-sing library with synced word-level lyrics and instrumentals, reachable from other devices over the home network via self-hosted web mode.
Open the song browser in table view, sort by artist and title, use Session mode to keep playback in its own window while guests request songs into the playback queue from the main menu, switching player profiles between singers.
Outcome: A running set list with visible up-next order, per-singer scores and star ratings, and leaderboards to settle who won at the end of the night.
Analyze the track, then use the CJK pipeline to get per-character forced alignment with romanized readings in Hepburn, pinyin, Jyutping, or Revised Romanization above each token, and shift key and tempo to fit your range.
Outcome: You can follow readings you can actually pronounce, sing in a comfortable key, and see pitch scores per attempt against your personal best.
Use Cases
- Analyze your MP3 collection and sing along with real-time scored feedback
- Host a karaoke party from your home media server without a streaming subscription
- Practice Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese, or Korean songs with per-character romanized lyrics
- Fix misaligned lyrics in the in-app editor for properly synced highlighting
- Run a self-hosted web instance so guests can queue songs from their phones
- Track progress across singers with player profiles and leaderboards
- Sing over the original mix without separating stems when you want the album version
- Import UltraStar Deluxe folders and play them with their built-in pitch and lyric data
Models Under the Hood
as of 2026-10-15
Limitations
- Everything runs locally, so performance tracks your hardware — a GPU is recommended for stem separation and CPU analysis is slow on large libraries.
- You supply the music: a folder, Plex, Jellyfin, or Navidrome, with no built-in catalog.
- Self-hosted web mode wants a Linux machine on your home network.
- UltraStar Deluxe import and Parakeet v3 ASR are labeled experimental in the docs.
- It is GPL-3.0 software maintained by one developer, so support and update cadence depend on that person's spare time, and there is no team behind it to escalate to; platform builds cover Linux x86_64/aarch64, macOS ARM/Intel, and Windows x86_64 only.
as of 2026-10-09
Verification history
We have re-verified Nightingale 8 times since . Each pass re-reads the vendor's own pages and re-checks every listed field against that evidence; passes where nothing had changed are marked as such.
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
Showing the 6 most recent of 8 verification passes.
Free to cite with attribution — this page re-verifies continuously.
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Plans compared
For each published Nightingale tier: who it actually fits, and what it adds vs. the previous tier. Cross-reference the cost calculator above for projected annual outlay.
Free & Open Source
$0
Ideal for
Anyone who already owns a music library and is willing to run a local app or a Linux box — from a solo singer on a laptop to a household hosting karaoke nights
What this tier adds
Starting and only tier: full app under GPL-3.0 at $0, including stem separation, WhisperX lyrics, pitch scoring, leaderboards, and self-hosted web mode — no paid upgrade exists
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where Nightingale's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
Nightingale is $0 under GPL-3.0 with every capability unlocked — no tiers, no seat counts, no usage caps. That puts it below Karafun's subscription (roughly $10/mo territory) and Smule's freemium coin model, where song access is metered. You fund it voluntarily via recurring Patreon support or one-off Ko-fi tips if you want the project to keep shipping.
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of Nightingale — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
Self-hosters: roughly 20–40 minutes to install a native build, connect the library, and let first-launch bootstrap pull ffmpeg and models, plus analysis time per song on top. Party hosts: near zero on top of an analyzed library — open Session mode and start queuing. CJK and USDX users: minutes after the first analysis pass; USDX folders need no analysis at all.
Switching to or from Nightingale
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
- →From UltraStar Deluxe: drop your existing USDX folders into the Nightingale library and play them with their built-in pitch and lyric data, no analysis pass needed
- →From Karafun or Smule: export or re-download the songs you actually own into a local folder, then point Nightingale at it — you keep scores and profiles locally instead of in a subscription account
- →From a bare music folder: connect the folder, Plex, Jellyfin, or Navidrome, and let Nightingale analyze it — there's nothing to reformat by hand
- ↗To UltraStar Deluxe: Nightingale already reads USDX folders, so your existing USDX content stays playable in USDX — anything you transcribed in-app would need re-timing for USDX
- ↗To Karafun or Smule: you get a licensed catalog and cloud accounts, but you lose local scoring history, player profiles, and offline mic privacy
- ↗To manual karaoke files: your LRC and Enhanced LRC lyric files are standard formats you can carry to any lyrics-driven player
Integrations
Resources & Guides
Tutorials & Learning
YouTube returned 6 videos for “Nightingale”, and we withheld 6: 6 could not be judged, because “Nightingale” is a single word that other videos use for other things. We are showing none, because we could not prove any of them are about Nightingale.
Official links
Tools that pair well with Nightingale
Common stack mates teams adopt alongside Nightingale, with the specific reason each pairing earns its keep.
Beatoven.ai
Beatoven.ai turns a written prompt into royalty-free background music and sound effects you can monetize.
Mureka
Mureka's AI music generator turns a text prompt into royalty-free songs with vocals and stems.
HarmonAI
Open-source generative audio tools from Stability AI for browser-based music creation and learning
Featured Head-to-Head Comparisons
Nightingale vs Landr Mastering
Choose LANDR Mastering if you need AI-powered, professional-grade mastering with reference matching and album coherence for release-ready tracks—it's affordable at $10/track or via subscription. Choose Nightingale if you want a free, open-source karaoke solution that turns your local music library into a scoring game with vocal separation and lyric sync—perfect for parties and self-hosters. They serve completely different purposes: mastering vs. karaoke.
Nightingale vs Splice
Splice is the go-to for music producers who need a vast library of royalty-free samples and the flexibility to rent-to-own premium plugins like Serum 2. Nightingale is an excellent free alternative for karaoke lovers who want to sing along to their own music library with professional vocal separation and pitch scoring, but lacks a built-in song catalog. Choose based on whether you need samples (Splice) or karaoke (Nightingale).
Nightingale vs Storyfile
StoryFile and Nightingale solve entirely different problems. StoryFile is for organizations needing authentic, video-based conversational AI for exhibits or legacy preservation—pricey but proven in high-profile museums. Nightingale is a free, open-source karaoke tool for people who already have a music library and want offline, private singing fun. Choose based on your need: historical accuracy or party entertainment.
Alternatives to Nightingale
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Beatoven.ai
Beatoven.ai turns a written prompt into royalty-free background music and sound effects you can monetize.
Frequently Asked Questions
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