I’ve got Jellyfin up and running right now on a DS620Slim NAS and it’s running pretty good so far. I’ve seen a lot of people say they prefer Plex over Jellyfin. What are the main advantages to plex?
Currently just using Jellyfin, but have used both Plex and Emby in the past.
Main reason I switched from Plex was mobile support. I also prefer FinAmp, which I use to download music for access when I’m at work, and at home I can access my entire collection through the same app.
I recommend setting up everything through Docker. I have Portainer running, which helps manage the containers. It was pretty trivial to switch what I was using by just setting up a different container. You can also have both running at the same time off the same library, and see what you prefer.
Yeah I’m running docker for my Jellyfin and cloudflare container right now. I’ll try Plex to see how it works, but my internet might suck too much for the authentication servers
My experience with Jellyfin have not been great. The mobile app is just not working well enough
Plex has lots of customisation available (which I prefer) but is a little harder to get running in my experience. I’d say, install them both and see what you like most. Do start with Jellyfin as it’s easy to install.
This is pretty much it, Plex offers far more client apps that are full featured and they make it super easy to setup and use both as an admin and a user. Especially for things like OTA TV where they provide the guide data once it’s setup (which is why it’s a paid option). I’d move to JellyFin in a heartbeat if they’d support OTA and DVR playback on AppleTV.
The problem I have is there is no way to playback live tv on AppleTV which is what we use throughout our home. Plex just works and has wife approved first party apps for pretty much everything.
The FOSS crowd will eventually pop in and try sway you strongly the other way, but at the end of the day, it really boils down to bigger platform, more app choices and more supported platforms. If you expect anyone other than yourself to be using it, on anywhere else other than your own equipments, but just don’t quite know who or where yet, then Plex might give you a better running chance in supporting that use case. Otherwise, choose whichever one floats your boat more.
The FOSS crowd will eventually pop in and try sway you strongly the other way
That’s pretty clear from the comments/upvotes, but I don’t think it’s undeserved either. Jellyfin is the underdog that came to take the slack left by Plex growing discontent, does a decent job overall, and gets measurably better over time.
What’s interesting to me is to think about what Plex could do that an active community around jellyfin couldn’t, and the answer is not technical, but commercial, and along the lines of more partnership and integrations with hardware or streaming platforms, for which I (and most people here, apparently) have no use. YMMV of course.
I was a happy Emby camper a couple of years ago. But Emby started to add features behind paywall . Jellyfin is a fork of Emby so it was easy for me to switch.
I’m fine with that personally, it takes a lot of hours to develop features. They have to make money somehow if they want to make it more than just a side project. Jellyfin last I played (1-2 years ago) with wasn’t where Emby much less Plex is. Missing a lot of features I grew dependant on. Been itching to try it again since Jellyfin January on the Self Hosted podcast tho.
Server wise they are practically identical, but the AndroidTV app of jellyfin lags behind quite a bit, the media player is bad, it doesn’t handle well changing subtitles, moving the clip forward and backward… Some of these are fixed by using an external video player, but weirdly enough there have been some movie formats that jellyfin couldn’t handle (the TV app) and emby did.
I just wish that the TV app were identical to the android app with remote functionality, but I’m no android dev so I’ll stay put and wait.
Same for me.
-It works well
-my dad (who has dementia) can use it
-It runs even when the net goes down (means my dad is happy)
-Can Transcode for our TV’s with premiere (would rather not have to pay for that)
Have been thinking about Jellyfin…as I like the FOSS angle…and seems like it is gaining a lot of traction in the selfhost community. I host Emby Server on my Unraid server and our nVidia Shields play content great using the Emby app. Going to be investigating Jellyfin when I start to move the rest of my serivces off of Unraid.
I personally use jellyfin and it works well enough for me to watch my movies and shows. I don’t use the app but just use the browser but there are plugins for kodi and various apps too.
Ive not used Plex myself and from what I have read it does the job too. A few friends use it and are happy. I read recently they let go of 20% of their staff.
For me it comes down to it like this: do I want a company to have control over my viewing experience with closed source software or do I want a community FOSS experience under my control. That is very important to me but it depends on your own needs.
Question about the viewing habits data. Is this only related to the Free Ad Supported Streaming content Plex pushes or are they also tracking viewing habits of users personal libraries?
There’s no way of knowing, which is the whole problem with their model and why a lot of us self host things in the first place. Even if they super duper promise not to use the data, they could be lying. And if they are actually true to their word today, that could change tomorrow.
You can get intro skipping for Jellyfin too with a plugin. It even works with Findroid, which is a native Android app for Jellyfin. I’ve been using it for a while now (maybe a month or so) and it’s always worked perfectly.
Seems like I’ll continue to stick with Jellyfin because of the offline access. My internet is very spotty where I live so it seems to be the best option.
My internet connection isn’t too spotty, but having gone through it I found it really annoying not being able to watch my own shows off my own systems just because I can’t auth to Plex’s login servers.
I really have only ever used either of them as a DLNA server, but I was recently forced into Jellyfin and find that I like it much better than Plex. It’s faster and more reliable on my system, and for my stripped-down needs, it’s a perfect fit. I’d say that if Jellyfin is doing the job you need, you’ve got absolutely no reason to switch.
If you’re watching your own content within your home then Jellyfin is better. It’s free, open source and private. Your Jellyfin instance is yours and secure, and entirely under your control.
Plex’s differences are mostly behind it’s plex pass pay wall, and you sacrifice privacy using their platform. The key difference is really offline and remote viewing of content which is easier and slicker with plex (but doable with jellyfin), and the plex App maybe available a few more devices. There are also some credits and ad skipping features. That’s about it - I struggle to see the benefit in plex. The only other thing I can think of is some people prefer the interface?
I used to use Plex and got annoyed when I couldn’t view my content, which I host locally, because their login servers were down. Made me realise why did I need them so I researched a bit and switched to Jellyfin.
My vote will always side with the open source community so please take that with a grain of sand. I much prefer Jellyfin because of its status as an open source project.
I like Jellyfin quite a bit better. The UI is less cluttered and the controls make more sense. It also doesn’t phone home like plex. I do keep plex running beside it for my dad and sister. Plex has way better device support.
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Currently just using Jellyfin, but have used both Plex and Emby in the past.
Main reason I switched from Plex was mobile support. I also prefer FinAmp, which I use to download music for access when I’m at work, and at home I can access my entire collection through the same app.
I recommend setting up everything through Docker. I have Portainer running, which helps manage the containers. It was pretty trivial to switch what I was using by just setting up a different container. You can also have both running at the same time off the same library, and see what you prefer.
Yeah I’m running docker for my Jellyfin and cloudflare container right now. I’ll try Plex to see how it works, but my internet might suck too much for the authentication servers
My experience with Jellyfin have not been great. The mobile app is just not working well enough
Plex has lots of customisation available (which I prefer) but is a little harder to get running in my experience. I’d say, install them both and see what you like most. Do start with Jellyfin as it’s easy to install.
Not sure how long ago you tested it, but there is now an alternative Android app called Findroid which I like much more than the official app.
I’ve found my media I play over the network looks grainy on some devices using Jellyfin. But it’s probably settings I have wrong
Been quite a while! Thanks for telling me though, I will test it out when I get to it!
AFAIK they offer more apps resp. apps for more platforms. Apart from that, nothing really. Maybe a little more idiot-proof.
This is pretty much it, Plex offers far more client apps that are full featured and they make it super easy to setup and use both as an admin and a user. Especially for things like OTA TV where they provide the guide data once it’s setup (which is why it’s a paid option). I’d move to JellyFin in a heartbeat if they’d support OTA and DVR playback on AppleTV.
If Jellyfin had a good Xbox app I would switch immediately.
In theory it’d be possible to make a Jellyfin UWP app, of course nobody’s made one yet. Maybe it could be you ;)
…they do but, you have to supply the schedule. I was using a Home run to pipe OTA tv in but, have since moved to a IPtv provider. Works very very well
The problem I have is there is no way to playback live tv on AppleTV which is what we use throughout our home. Plex just works and has wife approved first party apps for pretty much everything.
The FOSS crowd will eventually pop in and try sway you strongly the other way, but at the end of the day, it really boils down to bigger platform, more app choices and more supported platforms. If you expect anyone other than yourself to be using it, on anywhere else other than your own equipments, but just don’t quite know who or where yet, then Plex might give you a better running chance in supporting that use case. Otherwise, choose whichever one floats your boat more.
That’s pretty clear from the comments/upvotes, but I don’t think it’s undeserved either. Jellyfin is the underdog that came to take the slack left by Plex growing discontent, does a decent job overall, and gets measurably better over time.
What’s interesting to me is to think about what Plex could do that an active community around jellyfin couldn’t, and the answer is not technical, but commercial, and along the lines of more partnership and integrations with hardware or streaming platforms, for which I (and most people here, apparently) have no use. YMMV of course.
Jellyfin is better. Plex has features behind paywall
A good middle ground is emby. I’ve been using it for a couple years now and it’s been solid.
I was a happy Emby camper a couple of years ago. But Emby started to add features behind paywall . Jellyfin is a fork of Emby so it was easy for me to switch.
I’m fine with that personally, it takes a lot of hours to develop features. They have to make money somehow if they want to make it more than just a side project. Jellyfin last I played (1-2 years ago) with wasn’t where Emby much less Plex is. Missing a lot of features I grew dependant on. Been itching to try it again since Jellyfin January on the Self Hosted podcast tho.
Server wise they are practically identical, but the AndroidTV app of jellyfin lags behind quite a bit, the media player is bad, it doesn’t handle well changing subtitles, moving the clip forward and backward… Some of these are fixed by using an external video player, but weirdly enough there have been some movie formats that jellyfin couldn’t handle (the TV app) and emby did.
I just wish that the TV app were identical to the android app with remote functionality, but I’m no android dev so I’ll stay put and wait.
Same for me.
-It works well
-my dad (who has dementia) can use it
-It runs even when the net goes down (means my dad is happy)
-Can Transcode for our TV’s with premiere (would rather not have to pay for that)
Have been thinking about Jellyfin…as I like the FOSS angle…and seems like it is gaining a lot of traction in the selfhost community. I host Emby Server on my Unraid server and our nVidia Shields play content great using the Emby app. Going to be investigating Jellyfin when I start to move the rest of my serivces off of Unraid.
Plex for sharing with others. Jellyfin for personal use only.
Why? I share my jellyfin server with others too…
Plex is preinstalled on most smart tvs’s. And in ones with very limited app stores.
Also easy for others to make their own plex account, and you just give access to that user through the UI.
jellyfin requires more on the client side. Beyond what my mum can do on her own.
My streamers just needed to buy a Google Chromecast with android TV.
Just a barrier many won’t cross.
No media then :)
I personally use jellyfin and it works well enough for me to watch my movies and shows. I don’t use the app but just use the browser but there are plugins for kodi and various apps too.
Ive not used Plex myself and from what I have read it does the job too. A few friends use it and are happy. I read recently they let go of 20% of their staff.
For me it comes down to it like this: do I want a company to have control over my viewing experience with closed source software or do I want a community FOSS experience under my control. That is very important to me but it depends on your own needs.
https://www.rapidseedbox.com/blog/jellyfin-vs-plex
Jellyfin:
Plex (paid):
Plex is super convenient and slimy
Jellyfin is pure and behind on features, clients and comforts.
?! I can watch stuff locally from my Plex server even if my internet is down.
You have to disable authentication for certain ip’s / local networks. It’s not easy or straight forward, but it works.
Last time I had an outage, I was still watching from my roku and in the browser.
https://www.howtogeek.com/303282/how-to-use-plex-media-server-without-internet-access/
Trick is, it’s 4000% easier to set up when you’re on the internet.
You can insert some xml in places if you’re offline, but if you’re offline, knowing the places is incredibly difficult.
Great list of comparison!
Worth noting that Jellyfin is not only free as in beer (if you selfhost), but also free as in Freedom i.e. open source.
Question about the viewing habits data. Is this only related to the Free Ad Supported Streaming content Plex pushes or are they also tracking viewing habits of users personal libraries?
We know the data goes to Plex.
I would not bet you ANY amount of money they’d leave any stone unturned on data sales.
That’s why none of the stuff I sign up with them is using any of my usual credentials, they do have my ip though.
There’s no way of knowing, which is the whole problem with their model and why a lot of us self host things in the first place. Even if they super duper promise not to use the data, they could be lying. And if they are actually true to their word today, that could change tomorrow.
You can get intro skipping for Jellyfin too with a plugin. It even works with Findroid, which is a native Android app for Jellyfin. I’ve been using it for a while now (maybe a month or so) and it’s always worked perfectly.
What’s the name of that plugin?
You know, its not that hard to just try and google “intro skipper jellyfin” since its actually the name of it, but here you go https://github.com/ConfusedPolarBear/intro-skipper
Seems like I’ll continue to stick with Jellyfin because of the offline access. My internet is very spotty where I live so it seems to be the best option.
Same here.
My internet connection isn’t too spotty, but having gone through it I found it really annoying not being able to watch my own shows off my own systems just because I can’t auth to Plex’s login servers.
I really have only ever used either of them as a DLNA server, but I was recently forced into Jellyfin and find that I like it much better than Plex. It’s faster and more reliable on my system, and for my stripped-down needs, it’s a perfect fit. I’d say that if Jellyfin is doing the job you need, you’ve got absolutely no reason to switch.
It depends what you use it for.
If you’re watching your own content within your home then Jellyfin is better. It’s free, open source and private. Your Jellyfin instance is yours and secure, and entirely under your control.
Plex’s differences are mostly behind it’s plex pass pay wall, and you sacrifice privacy using their platform. The key difference is really offline and remote viewing of content which is easier and slicker with plex (but doable with jellyfin), and the plex App maybe available a few more devices. There are also some credits and ad skipping features. That’s about it - I struggle to see the benefit in plex. The only other thing I can think of is some people prefer the interface?
I used to use Plex and got annoyed when I couldn’t view my content, which I host locally, because their login servers were down. Made me realise why did I need them so I researched a bit and switched to Jellyfin.
I already commented this on another comment here but there’s a plugin for Jellyfin to get intro skipping
I had that plug-in installed and it never skipped a single intro for me
You need to install a modified web interface (just replace some files on your server) so you get the skip button
Plex is great if you want to pay for features and need a media server/streaming platform hybrid
And don’t care about privacy / believes that Plex will not be hacked one more time.
Jellyfin if you do not like being spied on by your self hosted media library. Plex if you do like being spied on by your self hosted media library.
Also - Plex if you want Audiobooks, because the app Prologue is 🔥
My vote will always side with the open source community so please take that with a grain of sand. I much prefer Jellyfin because of its status as an open source project.
I like Jellyfin quite a bit better. The UI is less cluttered and the controls make more sense. It also doesn’t phone home like plex. I do keep plex running beside it for my dad and sister. Plex has way better device support.