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    Plex Alternatives

    Plex is described as 'bridges the gap between your computer and your home theater, doing so with a visually appealing user interface that provides instant access to your media. Plex can play a wide range of video, audio and photo formats as well as online streaming audio and video' and is a leading Media Server in the video & movies category. There are more than 50 alternatives to Plex for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iPhone. The best alternative is Jellyfin, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Plex are Emby, Stremio, Universal Media Server and Serviio.

    Plex is mainly a Media Server but alternatives to it may also be Media Centers or Audio Players. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Plex.
    This page was last updated Jan 19, 2022
    Plex
      806
    • Freemium • Proprietary
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Chrome OS
    • Windows S
    • Android Tablet
    • Windows Phone
    • iPad
    • Apple TV
    • Daydream
    • Kindle Fire
    • Android TV
    • Kodi
    • Roku
    More ▼
    Plex bridges the gap between your computer and your home theater, doing so with a visually appealing user interface that...
    Learn more about Plex

    1. Jellyfin

      • Free • Open Source
      • Mac
      • Windows
      • Linux
      • Online
      • Android
      • iPhone
      • HP webOS
      • Chrome OS
      • Android Tablet
      • iPad
      • Self-Hosted
      • Google Chrome
      • Ungoogled Chromium
      • Mopidy
      • Roku
      • Cloudron
      • Kodi
      • Fire TV
      • Xbox
      • Firefox
      More ▼
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      Jellyfin is a personal media server and client. The Jellyfin project was started as a result of Emby's decision to take their code closed-source, as well as various philosophical differences with the core developers.
      Jellyfin vs Plex opinions
      Almost everyone thinks Jellyfin is a great alternative to Plex.
       all • positive • negative      relevance • date
      tijmen Jellyfin is actually open source, unlike Emby.
      Top positive comment  over 1 year ago

      3
      prayagprajapati17 Jellyfin is customizable, its transcoding is better than plex and there is much more to it than plex. Sure right now it is not as polished as plex but they are working on it
      Top positive comment  7 months ago

      1
      gustavodsilvagd it is trully self hosted without the need of something like the plex server and it also has some features, like multiple accounts, that are paid in plex
      Positive comment • 4 months ago

      0
      Kedman Best alternatif from Plex ! And it's FREE et OPEN-SOURCE ! ?
      Positive comment • 11 months ago

      0
      FOSS, easy to set up, and easy to customize!
      Positive comment • over 1 year ago

      2
      tom967 True FOSS ! Works great on atomic pi.
      Positive comment • about 2 years ago

      2
      latotale The future of Plex / Emby, just a question of time
      Positive comment • about 2 years ago

      5
      Show more comments ▾
      7 of 12 comments

    2. Emby

      • Freemium • Proprietary
      • Mac
      • Windows
      • Linux
      • Android
      • iPhone
      • Android Tablet
      • BSD
      • Windows Phone
      • iPad
      • Self-Hosted
      • Apple TV
      • Kindle Fire
      • Roku
      • Cloudron
      • Playstation
      • Xbox
      More ▼
      More ▼
      Emby, formerly Media Browser, is a media aggregator plugin for Media Center that takes your recorded, digital, or ripped media and presents it in a simple, easy to use interface. Emby prides itself on delivering a fast, intuitive, media rich experience for the whole family.
      Emby vs Plex opinions
      Most users think Emby is a great alternative to Plex.
       all • positive • negative      relevance • date
      Horaciogarro Is the exact alternative to Plex.+ web server!
      Top positive comment  over 6 years ago

      4
      Very good alternative to Plex media server and free multi-user (for Plex one needs a Plex account first and a Plex pass).
      Top positive comment  over 4 years ago

      2
      dzevel5 Plex is horrible at consumer privacy! Emby just a perfect solution especially for NAS. While Plex logging and collecting data, Emby won’t and then device can go into sleep mode perfect.
      Positive comment • about 3 years ago

      -1
      A superb alternative to plex, much faster streaming start of the video over internet.
      Positive comment • over 3 years ago

      -1
      Dalcolli enable subtitle, imdb sync, and more
      Positive comment • over 4 years ago

      0
      Emby is much more flexible in how media is grouped and displayed
      Positive comment • over 4 years ago

      -1
      Exactly like Plex, but without the central server for connections. Alos, takes longer for updating the files information for the first time. Has lot more configurations available.
      Positive comment • almost 5 years ago

      -2
      Show more comments ▾
      7 of 9 comments
    4. Media center allowing to watch movies, series, YouTube channels instantly. You can watch in HD, with subtitles, and easily cast any file to TV through DLNA, Chromecast, AppleTV! Stremio also gives you notifications for new episodes / movies.
      Stremio vs Plex opinions
      This alternative is disputed. Stremio is still a legitimate alternative to Plex, but it might have issues that some users think are important.
      Does not play local content, only paid online content.
      Negative comment • over 4 years ago

      11
      Does't allow local content.
      Negative comment • over 3 years ago

      1
    5. Universal Media Server is a media server capable of serving videos, audio and images to any DLNA-capable device. It supports any device capable of DLNA and runs on all major operating systems: Windows, OS X and Linux.
      Universal Media Server vs Plex opinions
      Most users think Universal Media Server is a great alternative to Plex.
      No faffing about and less intrusive and no personal data shared like plex does.
      Positive comment • about 3 years ago

      3
      jebofponderworthy Extremely easy install. Completely seamless connection to Roku Media Player. Very lightweight, but fully functional.
      Positive comment • over 3 years ago

      2
      Works fine with Chromecast.
      Positive comment • almost 7 years ago

      0
      ums is only a dlna server but plex serves the clients with custom apps, video transcoding and other features.
      Negative comment • over 3 years ago

      -11
    6. Serviio is a free media server. It allows you to stream your media files (music, video or images) to any DLNA-certified renderer device (e.g. a TV set, Bluray player, games console) on your home network.
      Almost everyone thinks Serviio is a great alternative to Plex.
    8. Ampache is a web based audio streaming application and file manager allowing you to access your music from anywhere, using almost any internet enabled device.
      Ampache vs Plex opinions
      Some users think Ampache is a great alternative to Plex, some don't.
      Ampache is an audio server, while plex supports both audio and video (and it is heavily focused on video streaming)
      Negative comment • over 4 years ago

      6
      Ampache is an audio server only, which is only a small subset of what Plex does, and not even Plex's primary focus.
      Negative comment • 10 months ago

      0
    9. Ignite your video content with Infuse – the beautiful way to watch almost any video format on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. No need to convert files! Infuse is optimized for iOS 12, with powerful streaming options, trakt sync, and unmatched AirPlay & subtitle support.
      Infuse vs Plex opinions
      Most users think Infuse is a great alternative to Plex.
      This is equivalent to other media players (like VLC etc.) not to streaming media servers like Plex.
      Negative comment • over 1 year ago

      1
    10. MiniDLNA (aka ReadyDLNA) is server software with the aim of being fully compliant with DLNA/UPnP-AV clients.
      MiniDLNA vs Plex opinions
      Almost everyone thinks MiniDLNA is a great alternative to Plex.
      Plex is too commercial too many nags - also smart tv apps are variable SAMSUNG smart tv app hasn't worked for years :(
      Positive comment • over 4 years ago

      3
      Overly complicated and conditional 'compiling' required. A very out-dated approach for today. Much as I hate Plex, this doesn't come close to its convenience, power, and simplicity in execution.
      Negative comment • over 4 years ago

      -8
    11. Subsonic is a free, web-based media streamer, providing ubiquitous access to your music and video. Use it to share your music with friends, or to listen to your own music while at work.
      Most users think Subsonic is a great alternative to Plex.
    12. Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center (OpenELEC) is a small Linux based Just Enough Operating System (JeOS) built from scratch as a platform to turn your computer into a Kodi (previously XBMC) media center.

      Discontinued

      Since 2017 source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenELEC
      also, the website is dead.

    Showing 10 of 85 alternatives