A Sonarr and Radarr alternative that runs in one container

What Sonarr and Radarr do, and what they leave to you

Sonarr follows TV series and Radarr follows films. Each one watches for new releases, searches your indexers, picks a release that fits a quality profile, hands it to a download client, then renames the finished files and moves them into your library. Both are free, open source and mature.

They are also separate apps. Each has its own web interface, port, database, quality profiles, indexer list and update cycle, and neither downloads anything itself. A typical setup adds Prowlarr to keep indexers in sync and SABnzbd, NZBGet or qBittorrent to download, wired together with API keys and matching folder paths. Reaching it all away from home means a reverse proxy, a VPN or open ports. The *arr stack guide goes through that setup in detail.

How Nabbed splits the work

Nabbed has two parts. The web app at app.nabbed.media keeps your library, quality profiles and indexers, scores releases and schedules searches. One open-source agent runs on your own hardware: it downloads over Usenet and BitTorrent with its own clients, then verifies, extracts, renames and imports the result.

The agent only makes outbound connections, so there is nothing to expose to the internet. Your files and download traffic stay on your network. See how a job flows from the web app to your library.

Sonarr and Radarr compared with Nabbed

Replace Sonarr and Radarr with a single container

On the machine that runs your *arr apps today, the agent is one service. Replace /srv/media with the folder that holds your libraries:

services:
  agent:
    image: ghcr.io/getnabbed/agent:0.2
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      NABBED_API_URL: https://api.nabbed.media
      NABBED_LIBRARY_ROOTS: /media
    volumes:
      - data:/data            # the agent's identity: keep it
      - ./downloads:/downloads
      - /srv/media:/media     # your TV and film folders

volumes:
  data:

Run docker compose up -d, open the link the agent prints and approve its code in the web app. The Docker guide has the full version with the hardening options, and there is a Helm chart and a signed binary if you don’t use Docker. The Docker walkthrough explains every line.

Bringing your library across

Point Nabbed at your existing Sonarr and Radarr, review a dry run, then confirm. Your library, history and quality profiles come across, and nothing is downloaded again.

The agent only writes inside the folders you allow, so you can mount the same TV and film folders your *arr apps use today. Imports can hardlink, copy or move, and the default naming already follows the familiar Series/Season 01 and Film (Year) layout.

When Sonarr and Radarr are the better fit

• You want every part on your own hardware, including the control plane, and nothing that depends on a hosted service.
• You rely on their ecosystem: custom scripts, community quality profiles synced with tools like Recyclarr, or apps built on their APIs.
• You also manage music. Lidarr covers that; Nabbed handles TV and films.
• You don’t want to pay for anything. Sonarr and Radarr are free; Nabbed’s Free plan covers one person, one agent and three indexers.

Switch in three steps

1. Create an account: join the waitlist, accept your invite and name your household.
2. Run the agent with Docker, Kubernetes or a binary, and approve its pairing code.
3. Set up your library: add a Usenet provider, check your library folders and indexers, then grab something.

Most people are done in about fifteen minutes.

Questions