Anthias is free and open-source digital signage software from the Screenly team, built for Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 running Raspberry Pi OS. It plays images, videos, and web pages on attached displays and is managed through a web interface on the local network, succeeding the Screenly OSE project. There is no license fee and no cloud account.[1][2]
Quick verdict
Anthias is free open-source signage for Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 whose web interface and $0 software cost cover single-screen and small-fleet rollouts well. Operators confirm it works, including a 7-Pi BalenaCloud rollout, but per-display management turns time consuming at scale. Sites outgrowing hands-on administration should compare paid centrally-managed Screenly from $14 per screen monthly.[1][2][3][4]
Capabilities
Web-based content management Screens are managed through a web interface on the local network, so routine content changes do not require editing files directly on each player.[1]
Images, video, and web pages Anthias plays images, videos, and web pages, covering the common signage workloads of menus, notices, dashboards, and promotional loops.[1]
Built for Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 The project targets Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 running Raspberry Pi OS, with a one-click install from the Balena marketplace that avoids flashing an SD card.[1]
Free and open source Anthias carries no license fee and is published under GPL-3.0-or-later, so the software itself never adds a per-screen monthly charge.[1][2]
Local-network self-hosting The player runs on your own local network with no cloud account, keeping playback and management inside your own infrastructure.[1]
Commodity hardware bill A screen needs only a display, an HDMI cable, a Raspberry Pi, a power supply, and an SD card, which keeps the per-screen hardware spend modest.[1]
Fleet pairing via BalenaCloud One operator reports running ScreenlyOSE Anthias with BalenaCloud across about 7 Pi devices, using it for fleet-wide updates and a VPN tunnel to reach individual players.[1]
Zero software cost at scale An independent dataset computed from verified list prices records $0 year-one software cost for Anthias at 1, 10, 100, and 250 screens, against $14 to $29.60 per screen monthly for paid Screenly tiers.[1]
Who will love it
Single-screen and few-screen sites Shops, offices, clinics, and schools with a handful of screens will love Anthias, because $0 software plus commodity Pi hardware keeps a small rollout cheap.[1][2]
Pi owners and educators Teams that already run Raspberry Pi hardware will love the fit: the supported Pi 4 and 5 path plus a web interface keeps the project approachable.[1][2]
Cost-sensitive small fleets Operators comfortable pairing players with a fleet tool will love the reported BalenaCloud pattern for updates and remote access without paying per-screen SaaS fees.[1][2]
Who should think twice
Per-display management by IP A former Screenly Open Source Edition user reports that managing each display separately by IP is workable but time consuming, since the free tier has no central management console.[1]
Video limits beyond supported boards Outside the tested Raspberry Pi combinations, support narrows: competing single-board domains have only minimal recent testing, and Intel x86 or other non-Pi configurations are limited to web assets and images.[1]
Large fleets need a bigger plan The 7-Pi rollout reporter cautions that scaling toward thousands of screens means significant babysitting, at which point the paid centrally-managed Screenly tiers from $14 per screen monthly become the honest comparison.[1][2]
How people experience it
Aggregator compare page surfacing two original Reddit reports: an r/sysadmin December 2023 rollout report of ScreenlyOSE Anthias with BalenaCloud on about 7 Raspberry Pi devices, and an r/digitalsignage October 2022 report from a former Screenly Open Source Edition user on per-display management.
1 cited community source. No original Reddit or G2 report could be inspected within the research budget: five search queries surfaced only an aggregator page quoting two Reddit threads, and direct Reddit reads were blocked. The community section therefore paraphrases those aggregator-surfaced reports without exact-quotation testimonials; a follow-up with direct thread access should add labelled excerpts.
Small rollout with fleet tooling An r/sysadmin reporter from December 2023 describes running ScreenlyOSE Anthias with BalenaCloud on about 7 Pi devices for a small-scale rollout, with fleet-wide updates and a VPN tunnel to each player.[1]
Workable but hands-on solo use An r/digitalsignage reporter from October 2022 describes the Open Source Edition as a workable option when managing each display separately by IP, while flagging that hands-on pattern as time consuming.[1]
Fit and compatibility
Pi hardware and peripherals Anthias runs on Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 with Raspberry Pi OS, plus a display, HDMI cable, power supply, and SD card; Balena marketplace install skips SD flashing.[1][2]
HDMI displays and web content Any HDMI-capable display works as the screen, and web pages play as first-class content, though video decoding outside supported Pi combinations is restricted.[1][2]
Questions worth asking
How much does Anthias cost per month?
The software costs $0 per month: an independent cost dataset computed from verified list prices puts Anthias at $0 year-one software cost at 1, 10, 100, and 250 screens. You still buy the hardware, estimated there at about $75 per screen for a controller-adjacent or wired HDMI setup, plus the display itself.[1]
Can non-technical teams use Anthias without code?
Mostly yes. Content is managed through a web interface on your local network, so updating a screen does not require editing files on the player. You still need someone comfortable flashing Raspberry Pi OS, connecting a display, and reaching the player over the network for the initial setup.[1]
Can I self-host Anthias for free?
What are the alternatives to self-hosting Anthias?
If per-display management becomes painful, the documented alternative inside the same family is paid Screenly, which adds a centrally-managed network starting at $14 per screen per month and beyond 100 screens requires contacting sales. The same cost dataset prices other managed vendors between roughly $8 and $30 per screen monthly, so compare those against the free self-hosted path before committing.[1][2][3]
Sources and editorial review
Source research. Reviewed on October 7, 2026. Written by Sanjib Sah. AI assisted; reviewed by a human editor.
We have not run or tested this product.
Aggregator compare page surfacing two original Reddit reports: an r/sysadmin December 2023 rollout report of ScreenlyOSE Anthias with BalenaCloud on about 7 Raspberry Pi devices, and an r/digitalsignage October 2022 report from a former Screenly Open Source Edition user on per-display management. No original Reddit or G2 report could be inspected within the research budget: five search queries surfaced only an aggregator page quoting two Reddit threads, and direct Reddit reads were blocked. The community section therefore paraphrases those aggregator-surfaced reports without exact-quotation testimonials; a follow-up with direct thread access should add labelled excerpts.
- Anthias: Free Open Source Digital Signage Software
official · Observed October 7, 2026
Official Anthias site: free open-source digital signage from the Screenly team; runs on Raspberry Pi OS on the local network; needs a display, HDMI cable, Pi, power supply, and SD card; supports images, videos, and web pages; commercial Screenly option for a centrally-managed network.
- Screenly/Anthias repository README
official · Observed October 7, 2026
Official Anthias README: self-described most popular open-source digital signage; successor to Screenly OSE; built for Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 on Raspberry Pi OS; Balena marketplace install without SD flashing; minimal recent testing on Libre Computer, Orange Pi, and AML-X905 domains; Intel x86 and other non-Pi builds limited to web assets and images.
- Digital Signage Cost per Screen 2026 dataset
published measurement · Observed October 7, 2026
CC-BY 4.0 dataset computing year-one software cost per screen at 1 to 250 screens from verified list prices: Anthias/Screenly OSE $0 at every tier; paid Screenly $14 to $29.60 per screen monthly by scale; hardware reference $75 per screen for controller-adjacent or wired HDMI setups.
- OpenHub vs Anthias community comparison page
community · Observed October 7, 2026
Aggregator compare page surfacing two original Reddit reports with links to the threads: r/sysadmin December 2023 rollout report (ScreenlyOSE Anthias plus BalenaCloud on about 7 Pis; fleet updates and VPN tunnel; scaling caveat) and r/digitalsignage October 2022 report (former Screenly OSE user; per-display IP management workable but time consuming). Excerpts quoted at 20 words or fewer each.
Compared with these products
No explicit proprietary baseline is recorded.