Plex AlternativesOnly Open Source apps categorised as Media Players

The best open source Media Player alternative to Plex is Jellyfin. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Plex and nine of them are open source Media Players so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source Media Player alternatives to Plex are MediaChips, LibreELEC, OpenELEC and Swiftfin.

filter to find the best alternatives

Plex alternatives are mainly Media Players, but if you're looking for Media Centers or Audio Players you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Open Source, Android, Apple TV, Linux, Mac, Chrome OS and Free. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Plex.
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Alternatives list

  1. Jellyfin icon

    Jellyfin

     326 likes
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    A free, open-source media system alternative to proprietary options like Emby and Plex, with Chromecast support, 4K streaming, plugin extensions, focusing on privacy without premium features, managing media from dedicated servers to multiple devices via various apps.

    50 Jellyfin alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • Flathub
    • Tizen OS
    • F-Droid
    • Android TV
    • Kodi
    • Docker
    • Fire TV
    • Roku
    • Cloudron
    Jellyfin screenshot 1
     
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    18
    126
    Comments about Jellyfin as an Alternative to Plex
    Comment summary: Jellyfin is praised for being a free, open-source alternative to Plex, offering increased privacy without requiring a cloud account. It's appreciated for customization, ease of setup, and lack of paywalls. However, users note challenges with certain devices and that Jellyfin is currently less polished than Plex, though improvements are underway. Its functionality and privacy features are highlighted as major strengths.
    Top Positive Comment
    seczamotu
    9

    It's FOSS and they don't spy on you. No paywalls and 'Premium' packages. It's completely free.

    obradk
    0

    It would be ok except it's impossible to disable transcoding and have decent subtitles. It's slow, but it's FOSS and it's not trying to upsell you at all times.

    intp
    Positive
    0

    Certainly a viable free, open-source alternative, but be advised that getting it working with a Roku, for example, can be a lot more challenging for less tech savvy users.

    Show more comments
    3 of 18 comments
    Plex Icon
    Jellyfin icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Jellyfin is a great Plex alternative.

    • Jellyfin is the most popular Windows, Android, Mac & iPhone alternative to Plex.

    • Jellyfin is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Plex.

    • Jellyfin is Free and Open SourcePlex is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Jellyfin is Privacy focusedPlex is not according to our users
  2. MediaChips icon

    MediaChips

     18 likes
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    This app for navigating your large video collection. Add tags, performers, websites, sort/filter videos, create playlists and play them in the built-in player.

    38 MediaChips alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Pay once or Subscription)
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    MediaChips screenshot 1
     
  4. LibreELEC icon

    LibreELEC

     26 likes
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    LibreELEC is ‘Just enough OS’ for Kodi, a Linux distribution built to run Kodi on current and popular mediacentre hardware. We are an evolution of the popular OpenELEC project. LibreELEC software will be familiar to OpenELEC users.

    11 LibreELEC alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    LibreELEC screenshot 1
     
  5. OpenELEC icon

    OpenELEC

     55 likes
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    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.

    11 OpenELEC alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Raspberry Pi
    OpenELEC screenshot 1
     
  6. Swiftfin icon

    Swiftfin

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    Swiftfin is a fast, native video player that works with Jellyfin, the open source free software media server.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • iPhone
    • iPad
    Swiftfin screenshot 1
     
  7. Oblecto icon

    Oblecto

     4 likes
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    Oblecto is a media server, similar to Plex, Emby, Netflix and others. It runs in the background on a home server to index your media such as movies and TV shows to make them searchable and streamable through a REST based interface.

    52 Oblecto alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    Oblecto screenshot 1
     
  9. PseudoTV icon

    PseudoTV

     4 likes
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    PseudoTV Live is channel-surfing for your media center. Never again will you have to actually pick what you want to watch. Use an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) to view what's on or select a show to watch.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Apple TV
    • Kodi
    • Fire TV
     
  10. Girens for Plex icon

    Girens for Plex

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    Girens is a Plex media player client. You can watch and listen to your music, shows and movies with this GTK app.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Girens for Plex screenshot 1
     
  11. PHPMediaServer icon

    PHPMediaServer

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    OpenSource Web Media Server to browse and stream any video file format supported by ffmpeg with easy web interface for play on any platform with html5 browser, dnla or kodi plugin.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
    PHPMediaServer screenshot 1
     
9 of 9 Plex alternatives