SickGear

SickGear is the long-running, community-maintained continuation of the original Sick-Beard project — one of the earliest and most widely deployed self-hosted TV automation tools. Continuously developed since 2014 with a focus on reliability over feature churn, SickGear retains the proven Sick-Beard architecture and UI while adding broad indexer coverage, anime support via AniDB, modern Python compatibility, and integration with every major Usenet and torrent downloader. Long-time admins often prefer SickGear over newer alternatives like Sonarr precisely because of its mature, predictable behavior and the familiar UI that has not chased the latest design trends.

Common Use Cases

Long-time Sick-Beard users migrate to SickGear to keep the workflow and UI they know on an actively maintained codebase with modern indexer support and Python 3 compatibility. Power users run SickGear alongside Sonarr to compare release-rule strategies on overlapping shows, leveraging each tool's strengths — Sonarr's modern UI for newer shows, SickGear's mature anime and special-format handling for older or complex titles. Anime collectors specifically rely on SickGear's built-in AniDB integration for absolute episode numbering and source-specific quality logic that other PVR tools handle less gracefully. Cord-cutters with mixed Usenet and torrent indexer subscriptions use SickGear to consolidate both sources behind one automation tool. Privacy-conscious users prefer self-hosted PVR tools like SickGear over commercial scheduling services because the entire pipeline stays on infrastructure they control.

How SickGear Fits the Media Stack

SickGear integrates with the rest of the self-hosted media ecosystem through standard protocols. On the indexer side it speaks Newznab and Torznab, working with Prowlarr, Jackett, and direct private trackers seamlessly. On the downloader side it ships native plugins for NZBGet, SABnzbd, Transmission, qBittorrent, Deluge, and rTorrent. After downloads complete, post-processing renames and reorganizes files into Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby-friendly folder layouts and triggers library scans via the corresponding media server's API. Notifications fire to Discord, Pushover, Pushbullet, Telegram, Plex, Kodi, and email so you always know when an episode lands.

Key Features

• Per-show tracking with TVDB, TVMaze, and IMDb metadata sources
• Quality, resolution, codec, and language preference profiles per show
• Newznab and Torznab indexer support plus many direct private tracker plugins
• Native plugins for NZBGet, SABnzbd, Transmission, qBittorrent, Deluge, rTorrent
• Subtitle search via OpenSubtitles, Addic7ed, and Podnapisi
• AniDB integration for anime-specific workflows and absolute episode numbering
• Post-processing with Plex/Jellyfin/Emby-compatible folder layouts
• Backlog and forced search for missed episodes
• Long-running mature codebase with focus on stability
• HTTP basic auth enabled by default with deployment-provided credentials

Why deploy SickGear on Hostinger VPS

Deploying SickGear on a Hostinger VPS turns it into a 24/7 TV librarian that never misses an episode release because a home PC happens to be asleep. Dedicated CPU and storage keep search and post-processing responsive even on large libraries, and Traefik HTTPS routing means the web UI is always available behind a clean URL with a proper certificate. The persistent named volumes for application config, downloads, and the TV library ensure your tracked shows, history, and indexer settings survive container updates so years of accumulated configuration are never lost. Full root access lets you tune subtitle providers, post-processing scripts, and notification endpoints, and lets SickGear run alongside Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, qBittorrent, SABnzbd, and your media servers on the same VPS through Docker networking — building a complete owner-controlled media automation pipeline.