Which is the best home media server?

Self-hosting is an more and more fashionable different for these seeking to escape the convoluted (and costly) content-streaming panorama and return to a extra conventional private possession method to their media assortment. When you’ve purchased your fancy new Community Hooked up Storage (NAS) and stuffed it along with your favourite films, the following step is to determine what software program to run on it.

There are not less than two strong choices for serving up your media assortment; it’s a alternative of Jellyfin vs Plex. Plex is the massive identify on the town, however putting in it didn’t cross my thoughts after lately rebuilding my DIY NAS. I’ve by no means been eager on Plex’s rising insistence on serving up third-party content material, and the all too actual danger of compromised person information (because the current information leak confirmed) doesn’t gel with the true self-hosted ethos. I’m not alone in searching for a strong Plex different.

The issue with Plex is it tries to be all issues to all folks and has ended up down the software program as a service rabbit gap. That is likely to be nice for some, particularly these seeking to combination content material throughout streaming subscriptions and their bodily assortment, nevertheless it’s not for everybody. Equally, Plex Go necessities for transcoding and even one thing as fundamental as streaming to your Android cellphone are a turn-off for these seeking to break away from the subscription mannequin, like me. I’m not against paying for good software program, however why fork out when there are excellent open-source options?

As a substitute, I’d extremely advocate trying out Jellyfin as a Plex different, particularly for those who’re not locked into one other ecosystem but. It’s very a lot Plex-like in its capabilities, simply with out the nonsense. I’ve used it for years and caught by it when the chance to change arose as a result of it’s fairly merely sensible.

Jellyfin is a self-hosted media server, similar to fashionable options Plex and Emby. In truth, Jellyfin is an open-source fork of Emby, which moved improvement behind closed doorways in 2017. In contrast to its rivals, Jellyfin, together with all of its options, is totally free to make use of and all the time might be.

If you happen to’re aware of Plex, you’ll know the fundamentals. However for many who aren’t, the core software program sits in your PC/NAS, serving up your private media information to shopper gadgets, equivalent to your laptop computer, TV, or smartphone. It really works on your private home community and over the web if required. Simply level Jellyfin to your media assortment, and it handles person playback monitoring, metadata, subtitles, transcoding, and extra for you.

If you happen to’re searching for a bit extra out of your media server, Jellyfin sports activities a collection of third-party plug-ins. These vary from metadata suppliers and Kodi integration to theming and a comic-book reader.

Jellyfin’s server runs on Home windows, macOS, and Linux, whereas playback shoppers span Android, iOS, fashionable TV platforms, and basically any system with an internet browser.

The large speaking factors within the Jellyfin vs Plex debate are software program scope and shopper assist. Jellyfin is extra restricted in scope; its sole purpose is to host your private media assortment, and it does all of it without cost.

Plex has grow to be far more formidable, squeezing content material aggregation, ad-supported films, TIDAL integration, and extra on high of its authentic mission. Plex is more and more all-encompassing, however many of those options you may not need can’t be hidden. The platform’s extras include value tags hooked up, and also you’ll must spend cash to benefit from its capabilities. Plex Go costs vary from $4.99 per 30 days to $39.99 yearly or $119.99 for a lifetime membership. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to nonetheless run it free for those who solely want the fundamental options.

We’ve compiled a breakdown of the important thing characteristic variations to assist inform Jellyfin vs Plex aside and determine which is best for you.

Key options

Selecting between Jellyfin and Plex ought to depend upon the options you want. Broadly talking, these after a no-nonsense residence media server package deal for his or her film, TV, and music assortment might be very pleased with the core and prolonged performance supplied by Jellyfin. That mentioned, Jellyfin can require somewhat further configuration for those who’re seeking to play content material over the web, equivalent to organising a reverse proxy or putting in SSL certificates. Likewise, music lovers might discover the primary app and even devoted gamers like Finamp somewhat barebones.

Plex, by comparability, is a bit more polished for extra area of interest use circumstances, because of the additional improvement assets at its disposal. Plexamp is a compelling music app, for instance, and the platform’s ad-supported TV and films, together with streaming service aggregation instruments, put extra content material inside simple attain of your fingertips. However like we mentioned earlier, many superior options are locked behind a paywall, and the complimentary extras can get in the way in which of the core home-media expertise.

The desk beneath reveals how every platform compares with probably the most sought-after media server options. Nevertheless, this isn’t a whole listing of every platform’s options.

Net app

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Sure

Smartphone apps

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Paywalled

Software program transcoding

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Sure

{Hardware} transcoding

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Paywalled

HDR tone mapping

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Paywalled

Web playback

Jellyfin

Sure (config required)

Plex

Sure

Customers / dashboard

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Paywalled

Skip intro/credit

Jellyfin

Plugin

Plex

Paywalled

Bandwidth management

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Paywalled

Multi-edition content material

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Paywalled

Offline obtain

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Paywalled

LiveTV

Jellyfin

Sure, M3U

Plex

Sure

DVR

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Paywalled

Content material discovery

Jellyfin

No

Plex

Sure

Advert-supported films

Jellyfin

No

Plex

Sure

Music lyrics

Jellyfin

No

Plex

Paywalled

Music app

Jellyfin

Sure (barebones)

Plex

Paywalled

Because the extra established participant, Plex has the sting relating to shopper assist throughout PC, cellular, TV, sport consoles, and different platforms. Nevertheless, the hole isn’t as huge because it was. Jellyfin now has official shoppers that span nearly all main TV platforms. In contrast to Plex, Jellyfin doesn’t cost to make use of its Android and iOS apps, which is a giant win if these are your major playback shoppers.

The desk beneath provides a very good overview of the 2 platform’s shopper lists on the time of writing.

Android cellphone

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Paywalled

Android TV

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Paywalled

iOS

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Paywalled

Apple TV

Jellyfin

Beta

Plex

Sure

Amazon Fireplace TV

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Sure

Roku

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Sure

WebOS

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Sure

Tizen

Jellyfin

Unofficial

Plex

Sure

Fb Portal

Jellyfin

No

Plex

Sure

Android Auto

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Paywalled

Home windows

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Sure

macOS

Jellyfin

Sure

Plex

Sure

PlayStation

Jellyfin

No

Plex

Sure

Xbox

Jellyfin

No

Plex

Sure

Transcoding

Transcoding is just not an important characteristic for in-home streaming. Nevertheless, it’s helpful to compress your assortment to tackle the go, particularly through cellular information, and to play newer file codecs on older {hardware} (equivalent to changing AV1 video to H264). Jellyfin and Plex assist software program and {hardware} transcoding. Nevertheless, you could purchase a Plex Go to make use of transcoding on the latter, though software program transcoding is free.

That mentioned, software program transcoding could be very demanding in your server’s PC, particularly for high-bit-rate video with superior codecs, equivalent to 4K HEVC information. Whereas a strong PC would possibly have the ability to get away with software program transcoding to a single person, software program transcoding usually isn’t possible on the sometimes extra power-efficient CPUs you’ll need in a 24/7 NAS.

That is the place {hardware} transcoding is available in, offloading work from the CPU onto specialised transcoding blocks in your CPU or GPU, rushing up the method and permitting a number of transcodes to run concurrently. Intel’s QuickSync, for instance, is offered on comparatively low-end {hardware} but can normally deal with a number of 4K HDR transcodes.

If you happen to anticipate the necessity for multi-user transcoding, Jellyfin is definitely the cheaper possibility.

To start out with Jellyfin, you’ll want to put in the server software program first (or connect with a good friend’s server). It’s accessible for Linux (Arm and x86), macOS, and Home windows. I’d advocate setting it up through Docker, if potential, simplifying updates, backups, and database migration. You’ll find an inventory of set up information and directions on Jellyfin’s obtain web page.

As soon as put in, log in by an internet browser. You’ll want the native IP tackle of your server and connect with port 8096 (http://192.168.1.10:8096, for instance), then observe the setup course of to create libraries and scan your media. After that, you need to use the admin dashboard so as to add customers, configure transcoding, networking choices, and extra. It’s price consulting Jellyfin’s glorious documentation for all of the accessible choices.

With a server up and working, connecting shoppers is as simple as connecting to the online interface. Obtain your most popular shopper, be it one of many smartphone apps, a TV app, or some other. You’ll find a whole listing of Jellyfin shoppers right here. Faucet within the server IP tackle and log in to your person’s account. That’s all there’s to it; now you can browse your libraries and play again all of your scanned content material.

Further configuration is required for those who plan to stream over an web connection. A VPN connection again to your NAS is probably the most safe possibility. Nevertheless, the extra simple and accessible possibility is to make use of a reverse proxy to go incoming connections to the native occasion, or you’ll be able to expose Jellyfin’s ports instantly. It is best to use HTTPS and supply SSL certificates to safe your connection in both occasion and arrange firewall guidelines to dam undesirable connections.

I had a fairly simple determination selecting a winner in Jellyfin vs Plex, however the latter (and Emby) are nonetheless very viable selections. Particularly if you wish to bridge the hole between your private and streaming collections. However with Jellyfin doing the majority of the core expertise so brilliantly with none strings hooked up, the one motive to not swap is familiarity with an current setup.