Plex AlternativesOnly Free apps categorised as Media Servers

The best free Media Server alternative to Plex is Jellyfin, which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Plex and many of them are free Media Servers so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free Media Server alternatives to Plex are Emby, Universal Media Server, Meelo and Infuse.

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Plex alternatives are mainly Media Servers, but if you're looking for Media Centers or Media Players you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Android, Apple TV, Open Source, Linux, Mac, Chrome OS and iPhone. 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
     355 likes

    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.

    59 Jellyfin alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • Flathub
    • Tizen OS
    • F-Droid
    • Android TV
    • Cloudron
    • Kodi
    • Docker
    • Fire TV
    • Roku
     
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    18
  2. Emby icon
     173 likes

    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.

    49 Emby alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • BSD
    • Windows Phone
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    • Apple TV
    • Kindle Fire
    • Cloudron
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
     
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    7
  3. 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.

    49 Universal Media Server alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
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    4
  4. Meelo icon
     15 likes

    A versatile self-hosted music server offering music video access, B-Side and rare track identification, extensive format support via transcoding, and detailed metadata parsing. Additional features include automatic 'featuring' detection, song version browsing, and genre retrieval through platforms like MusicBrainz.

    51 Meelo alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Android
    • Self-Hosted
    • Docker
    • iPhone
    • iPad
     
  5. Infuse icon
     53 likes

    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.

    117 Infuse alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Apple TV
    • visionOS
     
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    1
  6. Serviio icon
     54 likes

    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.

    50 Serviio alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  7. MiniDLNA icon
     48 likes

    MiniDLNA (aka ReadyDLNA) is server software with the aim of being fully compliant with DLNA/UPnP-AV clients. It is developed by a NETGEAR employee …

    30 MiniDLNA alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Termux
    • Terminal
     
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    2
  8. LibreELEC icon
     26 likes

    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
     
  9. Streama icon
     14 likes

    Ever had a huge bookshelf full of shows and movies? Ever wanted to digitalize them, but didn't have a good way of organizing the files? Worry no more! Streama is your own personal Netflix for just such a purpose!

    25 Streama alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
     
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    1
  10. nextPVR icon
     11 likes

    NextPVR. NextPVR is a popular free personal video recorder application for Microsoft Windows, making it easy to watch or record Live TV.

    19 nextPVR alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
    • Docker
     
  11. Comprehensive media manager for archiving, organizing, and playing files. It supports wireless transfer from devices, CD ripping with album art, and offers editing tools. Users can create slideshows, playlists, and burn them to optical discs, enhancing the experience with music and templates.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Android
    • iPhone
     
  12. PS3 Media Server is a DLNA compliant Upnp Media Server for the PS3, written in Java, with the purpose of streaming or transcoding.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
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