My users interface with my server via plex, smb and Nextcloud.

The guts are pretty complicated but from my users’ point of view it’s pretty simple.

You should think about what services you plan to offer and go from there.

Be aware that none of the off the shelf products have a good reputation for being secure when providing services outside your network which is when you may want stuff like Nextcloud.

It’s better since it supports hardware transcoding and seperate user profiles including age ratings.

With the lifetime pass I’d say Plex is better, but without it there’s too many missing features.