Sonarr is a free open-source PVR that auto-downloads, sorts, and renames TV episodes from Usenet and torrents. See features, setup, and alternatives.
Sonarr is an open-source PVR (personal video recorder) designed specifically for TV series. Instead of manually searching for and downloading new episodes, Sonarr watches configured indexers for releases matching shows in your library and automatically grabs, verifies, renames, and files them away.
The project began life as NZBDrone before being rebranded Sonarr in 2014, and today it is one of the most widely used tools in the self-hosted media automation ecosystem, often deployed alongside Radarr, Prowlarr, and a media server like Plex or Jellyfin.
Sonarr's core strength is automation: it monitors RSS feeds from Usenet and torrent indexers, applies user-defined quality profiles to decide which release to grab, and automatically retries when a download fails or is later found to be corrupt or fake.
Beyond the grab-and-organize workflow, Sonarr offers a calendar view of upcoming episodes, flexible library views, notification integrations with services like Discord, Slack, and Telegram, and a built-in updater, all managed through a web-based interface accessible from any device on the network.
Sonarr is completely free and open source under a permissive license, with no premium tier, subscription, or paywalled feature set. Users self-host the application on their own hardware, NAS device, or Docker environment.
Because there is no commercial entity behind Sonarr, support is community-driven rather than vendor-provided, delivered through Discord, IRC, the official forums, GitHub issues, and an active subreddit.
Sonarr is a free, open-source PVR that automates finding, downloading, and organizing TV show episodes from Usenet and BitTorrent sources.
Yes. Sonarr is entirely free and open source, with no paid tier or subscription.
Sonarr runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Docker, and NAS platforms such as Synology and QNAP.
No. Sonarr searches and sends releases to a separate download client, such as SABnzbd or qBittorrent, which performs the actual download.
Sonarr manages TV series while Radarr, a related project from the same community, manages movies. Both share a similar interface and workflow.
Yes, Sonarr is commonly paired with Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby, since it organizes and renames files in a structure those media servers can read.
Yes, Sonarr needs at least one configured indexer (Usenet or torrent) and a corresponding download client to function.
Sonarr itself is legal open-source software for organizing and automating media downloads. Legality depends on the indexers and content users configure it to access, and users are responsible for complying with applicable laws.