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The Corporate Creep of Plex: Why it may be time to move to Jellyfin

68 points by reprodev 2mo ago

kennywinker 2mo ago
Jellyfin is great. For me, the only thing missing is sharing libraries.
- luaybs 2mo ago
  Can you elaborate on what you mean by sharing libraries?
  - KMnO4 2mo ago
    I assume they mean how easy Plex makes it to share content across the internet. I setup a server, you download a client. No port forwarding, VPN shenanigans, etc
    - luaybs 2mo ago
      yes I agree, it does need some tech literacy to setup properly.
      - kennywinker 2mo ago
        It’s not about tech literacy to setup, it’s about sharing my content with friends and family - there is no easy way to do it, even if everybody is tech savvy it’s still high friction. The dream would be: anybody with a jellyfin install can add your library to theirs, anybody with the jellyfin client can be invited to browse your library.
        squishington 2mo ago
        I do this with friends and family. I'm not sure whether my solution is considered high friction. I gave them a router with openwrt installed, and a wireguard tunnel I set up, with a route to my jellyfin server. So they can point their jellyfin app on their TV to my server.
        reprodev 2mo ago
        I have to say if Jellyfin could nail the library sharing then they would definitely be a much bigger alternative to Plex users on the fence imho
skullone 2mo ago
Jellyfin works great. Supports my 7.1 Atmos setup with the right media even, very slick, no issues
el_io 2mo ago
Been using jellyfin for like 2ish years, no complain. Jellyfin-mpv-shim is great.
smilespray 2mo ago
Jellyfin 12 should be able to use a Plex media library using Plex naming conventions, no renaming required. This will reduce the switching workload, and you can run both services at the same time whilst trying out Jellyfin.
- vachina 2mo ago
  Huh. I was able to run Plex alongside Jellyfin on my library no issues.
  - smilespray 2mo ago
    Just depends on what naming conventions you use. For foolproof matching, adding Plex metadata in the style of "{tmdb-12345}" to the directory name would cause problems for Jellyfin, as they used to demand different formatting, for instance square brackets. It has taken a years to convince the maintainers that this change is a good idea and not "letting Plex determine the future course of Jellyfin."
xnx 2mo ago
As someone who was late to the game, I never even considered Plex and have been totally satisfied with Jellyfin. Is there anything better about Plex?
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
- blurgo 2mo ago
  [dead]
- BarkenBark 2mo ago
  These are the pain points I experienced moving from Plex to Jellyfin a while ago: - Jellyfin forced me to organize my files into Show/Season folders, whereas Plex just handled my original flat mess of scattered files. - When playing video on Plex, I generally have to wait some time before subtitles show up, whereas the subtitles in Plex just show up immediately - Plex has built in search for openly available subtitles matching your video that you can use if your video lacks subtitles (not sure if Jellyfin has it too) That said, I still prefer Jellyfin for numerous other reasons, and I don't regret my migration.
  - luaybs 2mo ago
    yes it does, you can use the opensubtitles plugin
  - radcod3 2mo ago
    > Jellyfin forced me to organize my files into Show/Season folders Regarding this, try out sonarr/radarr with hard links.
    - NewsaHackO 2mo ago
      No don't, sonarr is definitely worse if you have a unstructured media folder. I currently use it and its good, but I remember when first starting out with pile of files in semi random folders it being a mess to start up. Like some of the restrictions of the bulk importer made very little sense. Also, sonarr is tied to a single metadata provider which sometimes makes very unpopular decisions about the naming of series and episodes. When pluribus was initally released, they insisted on naming the series "plur1bus" even though no other source, imdb or even AppleTV used that as the official name. This broke auto downloading for the season.
znkynz 2mo ago
Should an Emby premiere user consider moving to Jellyfin?
- blurgo 2mo ago
  [dead]
- ploxxer 2mo ago
  I have found Emby to be a nice middle ground between Plex and Jellyfin. It has more polish and refinement than Jellyfin but doesn't have the obtrusive ads and whatnot that Plex offers. Client support is also great. Jellyfin is still quickly gaining ground but Emby is still my media server of choice for now.
  - GolfPopper 2mo ago
    >Jellyfin but doesn't have the obtrusive ads and whatnot that Plex offers I'm a Plex user who's been thinking about trying Jellyfin out, largely in response to some recent UI changes I dislike but... what Plex ads? I don't have any on my android apps, on Roku installs, or on my parent's SmartTV, and none of my other users have ever mentioned any ads to me. (If I was seeing ads, Jellyfin would become "take some time off work and get it working now".) I know I've disabled everything except my own libraries, so it's possible there's a setting somewhere that allows them, but if so, I disabled it so long ago I honestly don't remember ever seeing any. Are other Plex users seeing ads? Was it after a recent update that I may have skipped, maybe?
    - tym0 2mo ago
      The homescreen on the Xbox app is now full of "Apple TV", Trailers, free TV and the like. Enough of it that you can't see you own stuff on the homescreen. Last time I searched I couldn't turn it off. But maybe I missed that setting.
- nickthegreek 2mo ago
  Not until Emby starts to enshitify our jellyfin ui gets alot better. I made the switch around 2 years ago from Plex and tried out both extensively. Jellyfin just doesnt have the polish I was looking for.
deejaaymac 2mo ago
For those curious to see Jellyfin in action https://demo.jellyfin.org/stable/web/#/home https://demo.jellyfin.org/stable/web/#/home Username is demo, PW is blank Also, I've been running jellyfin for many years, I've had no issues
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
- hellisothers 2mo ago
  Looks and feels like an Android app from 10 years ago and all this hides whatever setup and management went into getting this going. Plex Just Works, and is very easy on the eyes.
- reprodev 2mo ago
  OP here. Thank you for posting this I didn't really think about that for the article. This looks like a great way to see it for those on the fence. If you don't mind me asking what client are you using and server setup are you using. Any tips from someone who has been using it for a decent chunk of time?
senectus1 2mo ago
I would absolutely love to cut to jellyfin, but for the TV integration. Last time i looked samsung TV's (which most of my fam use) dont have a decent client. Has that changed?
- jorl17 2mo ago
  This is exactly the core reason why I can't consider changing. The Plex app for Samsung has worked great for me for many years. It has its quirks, but it works!... Not having that is an absolute deal breaker.
- luaybs 2mo ago
  Check here: https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-tizen/issues/222#issuecomment-3831638580 https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-tizen/issues/222#issuec...
  - senectus1 2mo ago
    hmmm looks like its heading in the right direction.. very promising.
- tym0 2mo ago
  Yeah, unfortunately the TV app (Xbox for me) offering is really poor. I've been playing with Kodi with the Jellyfin plug-in but it requires such brittle tower of themes and plug-ins to look like Plex that I've yet to make the switch.
afavour 2mo ago
This was always going to be the fate of Plex. You can’t build a sustainable business off the back of most of your users viewing pirated content. I say that without judgement, it’s just a reality. Open source was always going to be the path.
- jrm4 2mo ago
  Weirdest downvote I've seen. This isn't like, painfully obvious to everyone? Maybe I'm old, but it feels like everyone has a little too much "business-brain."
- sandcat_ 2mo ago
  I'd argue that raising a bunch of venture capital is what stopped them from being able to be a sustainable business. I paid for Plex for a long time but I no longer use it because I got fed up of fighting it. (I now use Jellyfin + Tailscale instead.) I think the problem with Plex is they aren't happy with what they are: a service for people viewing their own (yes, pirated) media library. They always wanted to be something more. Netflix envy. But all anyone I know ever wanted Plex to do was handle their media library, perhaps offer a paid tunnelling system but otherwise get out of the way.
- dd8601fn 2mo ago
  I’ve always figured recurring costs require recurring revenue. That killer remote user connection brokering can’t be free, right?
jbird99 2mo ago
I last used Jellyfin about 2 years ago, and the chromecast functionality on Android needed some work. Has the Android client been improved?
deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
sithadmin 2mo ago
Didn’t the Jellyfin project lead and some other core founders quit this week?
- luaybs 2mo ago
  Yes, but it was amicable. The mentioned burn out
radcod3 2mo ago
I use jellyfin with Infuse, Kodi, mpv-shim and a couple of mobile clients as well. No major issues so far, even my parents use it via Kodi.
evulhotdog 2mo ago
Silo is a new up and coming competitor, also completely open source and written in go, and has full Postgres support from the get-go, along with proper architecture decisions to allow transcoding across multiple hosts. The vision of Silo appears to be much more clear, and has quite a few great devs behind it. It also has features to run side by side and has full JF api support. I have no involvement in the project, just excited for a new player in the space. Something to keep an eye on!
- wiether 2mo ago
  > and has full Postgres support from the get-go I was like: why should I care? Then I went on siloserver's website and I was even more confused. What made the success of Plex is how easy it is to setup, how nice it looks and how easy it is to use. Siloserver's marketing miss all those points because they focus on the tech stack, don't show a single picture of the UI and don't demonstrate the UX. Even as someone who understands the tech written on the website, I don't see the point. So I can easily imagine how someone without the technical knowledge would feel about this...
  - radcod3 2mo ago
    Agreed, the only UI demo I could find was in https://github.com/Silo-Server/silo-apple https://github.com/Silo-Server/silo-apple I'm thinking of trying it out though to see if there's any noticeable differences in performance etc.
  - evulhotdog 2mo ago
    As I mentioned it’s pretty new and the server doesn’t even have a tagged or release version yet. Take a look at the repo activity: https://github.com/Silo-Server/silo-server/graphs/commit-activity https://github.com/Silo-Server/silo-server/graphs/commit-act... Marketing is not really the important bit at the moment when they’re working on building things from the ground up. I was just mentioning it because it’s a new contender to the space, changing the status quo. Always a good thing in the OSS world.
  - TiredOfLife 2mo ago
dostick 2mo ago
The corporate creep was already felt when years ago they released the PlexAmp audio player. Good player but to display lyrics you have to open the menu and select “Show Lyrics”, two clicks every time. Every time, for every track. When the next track is playing lyrics display is automatically turned off. It is not remembered either, you go back to previous track and have to click click them menu gain. This is because they have to pay a licence and rather save $100 per month by inconveniencing their user base. you see, it’s extra work to click the menu every time so you won’t be viewing lyrics. Profit! And no, if your file already has lyrics that doesn’t matter, you still have to open to view it every time, for each track.
- reprodev 2mo ago
  Thanks for adding to this discussion especially around PlexAmp as there really isn't too much out there. I've been using PlexAmp for about a year now as a daily music player and someone else in tech who uses it all the time was telling me something similar about this whole lyrics situation which is why they just got Spotify to save the clicks. I really miss this feature from when I was using Amazon Music before but I could never really figure it out so just learnt to live without but TIL that it's not just me and them setting it up wrong to begin with. I use the Android Player and Desktop app on my MacBook and as part of the Plex Pass I'm happy enough. Can I ask if you or anyone else have tried any other players for it as my buddy who uses the Jellyfin (FinAmp) version of this for iPhone seems to have a lot more of a feature set than me?
  - dostick 2mo ago
    FinAmp is pretty bad, the UI is an example of design by committee of developers. There’s a “new UI” beta version that’s been going on since 2022, you can get it via TestFlight. But that new version is even worse.
    - reprodev 2mo ago
      That's for the explanation from a Jellyfin user. It's really appreciated. I'll pass that on and let them know as they are still playing around with different apps but that has been their daily driver for about 6 months now I think
monkpit 2mo ago
Does jellyfin offer intro/outro skipping like plex pass does? And hardware accelerated transcoding? The only thing keeping me on plex is my lifetime plex pass, and family inertia.
- alacritas0 2mo ago
  yes (through a plugin), and yes (if you set it up)
gbil 2mo ago
The main drawback of anything other than plex is that you can’t simply install it on some major TV brands.
- Hamuko 2mo ago
  Jellyfin doesn't even have a tvOS client.
  - the_gastropod 2mo ago
    It does. Swiftfin: https://github.com/jellyfin/Swiftfin https://github.com/jellyfin/Swiftfin
    - Hamuko 2mo ago
      a) It's not official, or even recommended at https://jellyfin.org/downloads/clients https://jellyfin.org/downloads/clients b) I would never use an app that used VLC for playback.
      - dd8601fn 2mo ago
        It’s there. jellyfin.org/downloads/clients/all/ And it’s in their repo. It seems to be status “official beta” and closing in on a new release with a considerable amount of rework done. I’m running a local build deployed to my appletv and it’s working fine.
  - xoa 2mo ago
    >Jellyfin doesn't even have a tvOS client. Huh? I find Infuse to be a very solid tvOS/iOS client, and they added built-in support for Jellyfin over 6 years ago [0]. It's right there at the bottom with other media servers they support (Emby & Plex). What's your issue with it? ---- 0: https://jellyfin.org/posts/client-infuse/ https://jellyfin.org/posts/client-infuse/
    - nickthegreek 2mo ago
zargon 2mo ago
I tried to evaluate Jellyfin recently but dropped it pretty quick. Live (OTA) television is barely a thought (seems to be acknowledged that no dev uses it), and you have to figure out a source for guide data. I have complaints with Plex's implementation, but it's a lot smoother than Jellyfin.
para_parolu 2mo ago
At one point I realized I don’t need plex or jellyfin. All I need is network samba and infuse. It’s supported on all apple devices and works well.
- beAbU 2mo ago
  And when you are not home?
  - xoa 2mo ago
    We live in the age of Wireguard (and Nebula and Tailscale etc). Not being home is not an issue for accessing stuff at home in the slightest, no other public service port exposure required either. In the context of someone considering hosting a media server of their own at all in the first place vs just using cloud subscription options, remote access is a pretty minimal lift. Assuming they aren't already doing it actually, if anything I could see a lot of selfhosters doing that first for other reasons before adding video later.
wiether 2mo ago
Weird article. Not only does it acknowledges that Plex is still far better than Jellyfin with its whole ecosystem, but it also depict pretty nicely the entitlement of the users overall. On one side, they paid $75 more than five years ago for a piece of software for which they still receive weekly updates. On the other, they talk about how leadership at Jellyfin decided to throw the blanket after a burning themselves out for free. Up till now, Plex kept their promise regarding the Lifetime pass: we still receive updates, we still have all the features. So, unless they change that, they haven't broken their promise. It seems only fair from them to try to run a sustainable business, which you can do without renewed income. They have to find money. They raise subscription price: no impact on existing Lifetime pass owners. They add ad-supported features: no impact on existing Lifetime pass owners. I don't see a single add wherever I access my Plex library, I have hidden their "free" library. I still have 100% of the features I had when I bought the Lifetime pass. Except that I have now access to more features. Sure, nobody forced them to say "Lifetime", but I don't see how I could be mad if they decided to release a completely new version that is out of the Lifetime scope. I would still have access to the old one, but if I was interested in the new one, I would have to move to one of their new plans, that looks more sustainable in the long run. Plex is still the easiest one to use for regular user or for the people, like me, that act as IT support for their family and friends, and don't want to spend their evenings and weekends tweaking their aunt's TV just for the sake of using Open Source software.
- reprodev 2mo ago
  OP here. Thank you for reading and it was something that's been brewing in my mind for a while. I agree with you and didn't really know how to approach it becuase I've got a lot of really good things to say about Plex and sure as hell have benefitted from the lifetime license. Recently, I've been asked more and more by friends and family to set up Plex for them as it's "free" and "easy". I do the basic setup or walk them through it. Then they want to share to their libraries to others or just watch off their connection and hit the wall of having to have a subscription. Then they bring me Jellyfin as the alternative from something they saw on XDA. I'm not too quick to help them set that up just because of the current state of it and having to find them players on their various devices. As you mentioned, I've been spending pretty much be spending all my free time helping them set it up but I think Plex being so cost prohibitive now so Jellyfin will start to become the defacto option as what we'll be tweaking for those of us that act as IT support.
beAbU 2mo ago
I've been a paying Emby user for close to ten years, ever since plex tried to launch a VR player or some shit, while there were still critical bugs in the player for web and other devices. Emby just works, it's players are great, and issues actually get fixed. I know it's a closed source fork of XBMC, I know that's controversial, but the product itself is just so good.
- reprodev 2mo ago
  I'm definitely curious about those that moved over to Emby from the XBMC days. Did you try anything else before hand or just go straight to Emby? I have to say I never really gave it a proper chance
  - beAbU 2mo ago
    I started with XBMC, with the media library on the same machine as XBMC. Then I developed a need to have acces to my library on different devices. After faffing about with samba shares and whatnot I discovered Plex. I started using that as a free user, and was very impressed and happy. 3-4 years into that journey I was considering buying a lifetime pass. At some point their web client felt like it was abandoned, because they kept on releasing apps for a bunch of niche devices and for VR. I was unsure if my subscription was going to make my experience any better. Eventually I discovered Emby, trialled it for a couple of months alongside Plex (same XBMC core, so the same library naming convention and folder structure). After that I decided to get the subscription for Emby. Their server is solid, the web client is solid, and their android clients are solid. Happy camper since then!
    - reprodev 2mo ago
      Thanks for this as I really don't have a lot of knowledge of Emby related things other than bits here and there but nothing about real people's experience on it. I think we may have had a similar path I did the Samba share thing from my Xbox from XBMP the XBMC as they started to become more of a Dashboard replacement with a crossover cable to begin with way back when. Really glad that you found your flavour of media player when you did as I've seen Emby as a Smart TV app as much as Plex but never really had a full idea of how it fared.
M95D 2mo ago
I use Kodi. I never used Plex or Jellyfin. I'm not even sure what they are. They look like media players, but... over the network? I don't really understand how that works. In a web browser? Why whould anyone run a media player in a browser? Can anyone explain?
- bigstrat2003 2mo ago
  Essentially, think of it as Netflix for which you provide the media yourself. A browser is one possible way to connect, but clients exist too (e.g. a Roku app and so on). Having the ability to connect with a client running on something connected to your TV is nice, as is the ability to connect remotely (if you open up the ports on your firewall of course). It also gives you things like remembering what shows you were watching and giving a shortcut to the next episode, intro skipping, transcoding, and so on.
  - M95D 2mo ago
    Nope. I still don't get it. (Maybe because I'm too old for this stuff?) > think of it as Netflix for which you provide the media yourself. Netflix is a provider of content. If I have the content, why do I need a provider for? > Having the ability to connect with a client running on something connected to your TV is nice (???) But that's what I'm doing now with Kodi. > as is the ability to connect remotely (if you open up the ports on your firewall of course). Wireguard (only one port), and all home LAN is accessible, not just one service. > It also gives you things like remembering what shows you were watching and giving a shortcut to the next episode Kodi does that too. Or maybe you mean it remembers between player devices? See ep.1 on player A and it shows up as seen when I start player B too? That's nice. I think I read somewhere that Kodi can use a remote MySQL/MariaDB for it's library too. I could probably set up a shared DB. > intro skipping How does it know where the intro is and how long? > transcoding If I were to install Plex/Jellyfin it would be where the storage is - on a router that also serves as a NAS. It doesn't have the power to transcode anything, not even audio. Meanwhile, the lowest spec phone can play everything. So, why would anyone transcode in 2026?
    - 2mo ago
pjjpo 2mo ago
I think anyone grandfathered in to a lifetime license is getting a pretty good deal on this. Mine was $119 in 2017. The only other lifetime license I have bought is Adguard, also excellent. Software that gets unlimited updates for a low price is _very rare_ right? If there are other good examples, happy to hear them! I get that things are changing with Plex, naturally given it was a steal. But somehow it feels in bad faith when the author got that great deal but puts out this hit piece.
- reprodev 2mo ago
  Hi OP here, thanks for reading this and really I'm really glad for your take on this. I get the whole "you need a time machine" to get a good deal and I've definitely missed out on some great ones over the years. I guess this is more for people who already have the deal and for those coming into it fresh today as the information especially from LLMs is so all over the place when I've had folks tell them that ChatGPT said this and not that. I tried to balance it as best I can with me already having that lifetime licence and it's kind of unfair to those who never got it. Maybe it's just a precursor of things to come within tech as people try to monetise things monthly on roadmaps which promise massive potential rather than having faith in their original products. I still think it's a great deal and I hope that came across but $750 now vs $119 when you got it is definitely the point where you have to think about the alternatives out there. I'm lucky to have the years of XP and watched it go from a great alternative to also being something that has suffered from feature creep as it tries to be everything to everyone. This doesn't mean my opinion is any better or even more right than anyone else, it's just my opinion having been through some major touch points in tech history. Even trying to explain the price changes and things that you don't get for the monthly fee to others sends me in circles as it changes so frequently. That unlimited updates thing for a low price is the main reason why it's such a great deal and as time goes on I truly hope it keep innovating as best it can maybe leveraging those brand deals it has which were built on the initial consumer trust it built so well.

68 points by reprodev 2mo ago

kennywinker 2mo ago

Jellyfin is great. For me, the only thing missing is sharing libraries.

luaybs 2mo ago
Can you elaborate on what you mean by sharing libraries?
- KMnO4 2mo ago
  I assume they mean how easy Plex makes it to share content across the internet. I setup a server, you download a client. No port forwarding, VPN shenanigans, etc
  - luaybs 2mo ago
    yes I agree, it does need some tech literacy to setup properly.
    - kennywinker 2mo ago
      It’s not about tech literacy to setup, it’s about sharing my content with friends and family - there is no easy way to do it, even if everybody is tech savvy it’s still high friction. The dream would be: anybody with a jellyfin install can add your library to theirs, anybody with the jellyfin client can be invited to browse your library.
      - squishington 2mo ago
        I do this with friends and family. I'm not sure whether my solution is considered high friction. I gave them a router with openwrt installed, and a wireguard tunnel I set up, with a route to my jellyfin server. So they can point their jellyfin app on their TV to my server.
        reprodev 2mo ago
        I have to say if Jellyfin could nail the library sharing then they would definitely be a much bigger alternative to Plex users on the fence imho

skullone 2mo ago

Jellyfin works great. Supports my 7.1 Atmos setup with the right media even, very slick, no issues

el_io 2mo ago

Been using jellyfin for like 2ish years, no complain. Jellyfin-mpv-shim is great.

smilespray 2mo ago

Jellyfin 12 should be able to use a Plex media library using Plex naming conventions, no renaming required. This will reduce the switching workload, and you can run both services at the same time whilst trying out Jellyfin.

vachina 2mo ago
Huh. I was able to run Plex alongside Jellyfin on my library no issues.
- smilespray 2mo ago
  Just depends on what naming conventions you use. For foolproof matching, adding Plex metadata in the style of "{tmdb-12345}" to the directory name would cause problems for Jellyfin, as they used to demand different formatting, for instance square brackets. It has taken a years to convince the maintainers that this change is a good idea and not "letting Plex determine the future course of Jellyfin."

xnx 2mo ago

As someone who was late to the game, I never even considered Plex and have been totally satisfied with Jellyfin. Is there anything better about Plex?

deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
blurgo 2mo ago
[dead]
BarkenBark 2mo ago
These are the pain points I experienced moving from Plex to Jellyfin a while ago: - Jellyfin forced me to organize my files into Show/Season folders, whereas Plex just handled my original flat mess of scattered files. - When playing video on Plex, I generally have to wait some time before subtitles show up, whereas the subtitles in Plex just show up immediately - Plex has built in search for openly available subtitles matching your video that you can use if your video lacks subtitles (not sure if Jellyfin has it too) That said, I still prefer Jellyfin for numerous other reasons, and I don't regret my migration.
- luaybs 2mo ago
  yes it does, you can use the opensubtitles plugin
- radcod3 2mo ago
  > Jellyfin forced me to organize my files into Show/Season folders Regarding this, try out sonarr/radarr with hard links.
  - NewsaHackO 2mo ago
    No don't, sonarr is definitely worse if you have a unstructured media folder. I currently use it and its good, but I remember when first starting out with pile of files in semi random folders it being a mess to start up. Like some of the restrictions of the bulk importer made very little sense. Also, sonarr is tied to a single metadata provider which sometimes makes very unpopular decisions about the naming of series and episodes. When pluribus was initally released, they insisted on naming the series "plur1bus" even though no other source, imdb or even AppleTV used that as the official name. This broke auto downloading for the season.

znkynz 2mo ago

Should an Emby premiere user consider moving to Jellyfin?

blurgo 2mo ago
[dead]
ploxxer 2mo ago
I have found Emby to be a nice middle ground between Plex and Jellyfin. It has more polish and refinement than Jellyfin but doesn't have the obtrusive ads and whatnot that Plex offers. Client support is also great. Jellyfin is still quickly gaining ground but Emby is still my media server of choice for now.
- GolfPopper 2mo ago
  >Jellyfin but doesn't have the obtrusive ads and whatnot that Plex offers I'm a Plex user who's been thinking about trying Jellyfin out, largely in response to some recent UI changes I dislike but... what Plex ads? I don't have any on my android apps, on Roku installs, or on my parent's SmartTV, and none of my other users have ever mentioned any ads to me. (If I was seeing ads, Jellyfin would become "take some time off work and get it working now".) I know I've disabled everything except my own libraries, so it's possible there's a setting somewhere that allows them, but if so, I disabled it so long ago I honestly don't remember ever seeing any. Are other Plex users seeing ads? Was it after a recent update that I may have skipped, maybe?
  - tym0 2mo ago
    The homescreen on the Xbox app is now full of "Apple TV", Trailers, free TV and the like. Enough of it that you can't see you own stuff on the homescreen. Last time I searched I couldn't turn it off. But maybe I missed that setting.
nickthegreek 2mo ago
Not until Emby starts to enshitify our jellyfin ui gets alot better. I made the switch around 2 years ago from Plex and tried out both extensively. Jellyfin just doesnt have the polish I was looking for.

deejaaymac 2mo ago

For those curious to see Jellyfin in action https://demo.jellyfin.org/stable/web/#/home https://demo.jellyfin.org/stable/web/#/home Username is demo, PW is blank Also, I've been running jellyfin for many years, I've had no issues

deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
hellisothers 2mo ago
Looks and feels like an Android app from 10 years ago and all this hides whatever setup and management went into getting this going. Plex Just Works, and is very easy on the eyes.
reprodev 2mo ago
OP here. Thank you for posting this I didn't really think about that for the article. This looks like a great way to see it for those on the fence. If you don't mind me asking what client are you using and server setup are you using. Any tips from someone who has been using it for a decent chunk of time?

senectus1 2mo ago

I would absolutely love to cut to jellyfin, but for the TV integration. Last time i looked samsung TV's (which most of my fam use) dont have a decent client. Has that changed?

jorl17 2mo ago
This is exactly the core reason why I can't consider changing. The Plex app for Samsung has worked great for me for many years. It has its quirks, but it works!... Not having that is an absolute deal breaker.
luaybs 2mo ago
Check here: https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-tizen/issues/222#issuecomment-3831638580 https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-tizen/issues/222#issuec...
- senectus1 2mo ago
  hmmm looks like its heading in the right direction.. very promising.
tym0 2mo ago
Yeah, unfortunately the TV app (Xbox for me) offering is really poor. I've been playing with Kodi with the Jellyfin plug-in but it requires such brittle tower of themes and plug-ins to look like Plex that I've yet to make the switch.

afavour 2mo ago

This was always going to be the fate of Plex. You can’t build a sustainable business off the back of most of your users viewing pirated content. I say that without judgement, it’s just a reality. Open source was always going to be the path.

jrm4 2mo ago
Weirdest downvote I've seen. This isn't like, painfully obvious to everyone? Maybe I'm old, but it feels like everyone has a little too much "business-brain."
sandcat_ 2mo ago
I'd argue that raising a bunch of venture capital is what stopped them from being able to be a sustainable business. I paid for Plex for a long time but I no longer use it because I got fed up of fighting it. (I now use Jellyfin + Tailscale instead.) I think the problem with Plex is they aren't happy with what they are: a service for people viewing their own (yes, pirated) media library. They always wanted to be something more. Netflix envy. But all anyone I know ever wanted Plex to do was handle their media library, perhaps offer a paid tunnelling system but otherwise get out of the way.
dd8601fn 2mo ago
I’ve always figured recurring costs require recurring revenue. That killer remote user connection brokering can’t be free, right?

jbird99 2mo ago

I last used Jellyfin about 2 years ago, and the chromecast functionality on Android needed some work. Has the Android client been improved?

deleted 2mo ago

[deleted]

sithadmin 2mo ago

Didn’t the Jellyfin project lead and some other core founders quit this week?

luaybs 2mo ago
Yes, but it was amicable. The mentioned burn out

radcod3 2mo ago

I use jellyfin with Infuse, Kodi, mpv-shim and a couple of mobile clients as well. No major issues so far, even my parents use it via Kodi.

evulhotdog 2mo ago

Silo is a new up and coming competitor, also completely open source and written in go, and has full Postgres support from the get-go, along with proper architecture decisions to allow transcoding across multiple hosts. The vision of Silo appears to be much more clear, and has quite a few great devs behind it. It also has features to run side by side and has full JF api support. I have no involvement in the project, just excited for a new player in the space. Something to keep an eye on!

wiether 2mo ago
> and has full Postgres support from the get-go I was like: why should I care? Then I went on siloserver's website and I was even more confused. What made the success of Plex is how easy it is to setup, how nice it looks and how easy it is to use. Siloserver's marketing miss all those points because they focus on the tech stack, don't show a single picture of the UI and don't demonstrate the UX. Even as someone who understands the tech written on the website, I don't see the point. So I can easily imagine how someone without the technical knowledge would feel about this...
- radcod3 2mo ago
  Agreed, the only UI demo I could find was in https://github.com/Silo-Server/silo-apple https://github.com/Silo-Server/silo-apple I'm thinking of trying it out though to see if there's any noticeable differences in performance etc.
- evulhotdog 2mo ago
  As I mentioned it’s pretty new and the server doesn’t even have a tagged or release version yet. Take a look at the repo activity: https://github.com/Silo-Server/silo-server/graphs/commit-activity https://github.com/Silo-Server/silo-server/graphs/commit-act... Marketing is not really the important bit at the moment when they’re working on building things from the ground up. I was just mentioning it because it’s a new contender to the space, changing the status quo. Always a good thing in the OSS world.
- TiredOfLife 2mo ago

dostick 2mo ago

The corporate creep was already felt when years ago they released the PlexAmp audio player. Good player but to display lyrics you have to open the menu and select “Show Lyrics”, two clicks every time. Every time, for every track. When the next track is playing lyrics display is automatically turned off. It is not remembered either, you go back to previous track and have to click click them menu gain. This is because they have to pay a licence and rather save $100 per month by inconveniencing their user base. you see, it’s extra work to click the menu every time so you won’t be viewing lyrics. Profit! And no, if your file already has lyrics that doesn’t matter, you still have to open to view it every time, for each track.

reprodev 2mo ago
Thanks for adding to this discussion especially around PlexAmp as there really isn't too much out there. I've been using PlexAmp for about a year now as a daily music player and someone else in tech who uses it all the time was telling me something similar about this whole lyrics situation which is why they just got Spotify to save the clicks. I really miss this feature from when I was using Amazon Music before but I could never really figure it out so just learnt to live without but TIL that it's not just me and them setting it up wrong to begin with. I use the Android Player and Desktop app on my MacBook and as part of the Plex Pass I'm happy enough. Can I ask if you or anyone else have tried any other players for it as my buddy who uses the Jellyfin (FinAmp) version of this for iPhone seems to have a lot more of a feature set than me?
- dostick 2mo ago
  FinAmp is pretty bad, the UI is an example of design by committee of developers. There’s a “new UI” beta version that’s been going on since 2022, you can get it via TestFlight. But that new version is even worse.
  - reprodev 2mo ago
    That's for the explanation from a Jellyfin user. It's really appreciated. I'll pass that on and let them know as they are still playing around with different apps but that has been their daily driver for about 6 months now I think

monkpit 2mo ago

Does jellyfin offer intro/outro skipping like plex pass does? And hardware accelerated transcoding? The only thing keeping me on plex is my lifetime plex pass, and family inertia.

alacritas0 2mo ago
yes (through a plugin), and yes (if you set it up)

gbil 2mo ago

The main drawback of anything other than plex is that you can’t simply install it on some major TV brands.

Hamuko 2mo ago
Jellyfin doesn't even have a tvOS client.
- the_gastropod 2mo ago
  It does. Swiftfin: https://github.com/jellyfin/Swiftfin https://github.com/jellyfin/Swiftfin
  - Hamuko 2mo ago
    a) It's not official, or even recommended at https://jellyfin.org/downloads/clients https://jellyfin.org/downloads/clients b) I would never use an app that used VLC for playback.
    - dd8601fn 2mo ago
      It’s there. jellyfin.org/downloads/clients/all/ And it’s in their repo. It seems to be status “official beta” and closing in on a new release with a considerable amount of rework done. I’m running a local build deployed to my appletv and it’s working fine.
- xoa 2mo ago
  >Jellyfin doesn't even have a tvOS client. Huh? I find Infuse to be a very solid tvOS/iOS client, and they added built-in support for Jellyfin over 6 years ago [0]. It's right there at the bottom with other media servers they support (Emby & Plex). What's your issue with it? ---- 0: https://jellyfin.org/posts/client-infuse/ https://jellyfin.org/posts/client-infuse/
  - nickthegreek 2mo ago

zargon 2mo ago

I tried to evaluate Jellyfin recently but dropped it pretty quick. Live (OTA) television is barely a thought (seems to be acknowledged that no dev uses it), and you have to figure out a source for guide data. I have complaints with Plex's implementation, but it's a lot smoother than Jellyfin.

para_parolu 2mo ago

At one point I realized I don’t need plex or jellyfin. All I need is network samba and infuse. It’s supported on all apple devices and works well.

beAbU 2mo ago
And when you are not home?
- xoa 2mo ago
  We live in the age of Wireguard (and Nebula and Tailscale etc). Not being home is not an issue for accessing stuff at home in the slightest, no other public service port exposure required either. In the context of someone considering hosting a media server of their own at all in the first place vs just using cloud subscription options, remote access is a pretty minimal lift. Assuming they aren't already doing it actually, if anything I could see a lot of selfhosters doing that first for other reasons before adding video later.

wiether 2mo ago

Weird article. Not only does it acknowledges that Plex is still far better than Jellyfin with its whole ecosystem, but it also depict pretty nicely the entitlement of the users overall. On one side, they paid $75 more than five years ago for a piece of software for which they still receive weekly updates. On the other, they talk about how leadership at Jellyfin decided to throw the blanket after a burning themselves out for free. Up till now, Plex kept their promise regarding the Lifetime pass: we still receive updates, we still have all the features. So, unless they change that, they haven't broken their promise. It seems only fair from them to try to run a sustainable business, which you can do without renewed income. They have to find money. They raise subscription price: no impact on existing Lifetime pass owners. They add ad-supported features: no impact on existing Lifetime pass owners. I don't see a single add wherever I access my Plex library, I have hidden their "free" library. I still have 100% of the features I had when I bought the Lifetime pass. Except that I have now access to more features. Sure, nobody forced them to say "Lifetime", but I don't see how I could be mad if they decided to release a completely new version that is out of the Lifetime scope. I would still have access to the old one, but if I was interested in the new one, I would have to move to one of their new plans, that looks more sustainable in the long run. Plex is still the easiest one to use for regular user or for the people, like me, that act as IT support for their family and friends, and don't want to spend their evenings and weekends tweaking their aunt's TV just for the sake of using Open Source software.

reprodev 2mo ago
OP here. Thank you for reading and it was something that's been brewing in my mind for a while. I agree with you and didn't really know how to approach it becuase I've got a lot of really good things to say about Plex and sure as hell have benefitted from the lifetime license. Recently, I've been asked more and more by friends and family to set up Plex for them as it's "free" and "easy". I do the basic setup or walk them through it. Then they want to share to their libraries to others or just watch off their connection and hit the wall of having to have a subscription. Then they bring me Jellyfin as the alternative from something they saw on XDA. I'm not too quick to help them set that up just because of the current state of it and having to find them players on their various devices. As you mentioned, I've been spending pretty much be spending all my free time helping them set it up but I think Plex being so cost prohibitive now so Jellyfin will start to become the defacto option as what we'll be tweaking for those of us that act as IT support.

beAbU 2mo ago

I've been a paying Emby user for close to ten years, ever since plex tried to launch a VR player or some shit, while there were still critical bugs in the player for web and other devices. Emby just works, it's players are great, and issues actually get fixed. I know it's a closed source fork of XBMC, I know that's controversial, but the product itself is just so good.

reprodev 2mo ago
I'm definitely curious about those that moved over to Emby from the XBMC days. Did you try anything else before hand or just go straight to Emby? I have to say I never really gave it a proper chance
- beAbU 2mo ago
  I started with XBMC, with the media library on the same machine as XBMC. Then I developed a need to have acces to my library on different devices. After faffing about with samba shares and whatnot I discovered Plex. I started using that as a free user, and was very impressed and happy. 3-4 years into that journey I was considering buying a lifetime pass. At some point their web client felt like it was abandoned, because they kept on releasing apps for a bunch of niche devices and for VR. I was unsure if my subscription was going to make my experience any better. Eventually I discovered Emby, trialled it for a couple of months alongside Plex (same XBMC core, so the same library naming convention and folder structure). After that I decided to get the subscription for Emby. Their server is solid, the web client is solid, and their android clients are solid. Happy camper since then!
  - reprodev 2mo ago
    Thanks for this as I really don't have a lot of knowledge of Emby related things other than bits here and there but nothing about real people's experience on it. I think we may have had a similar path I did the Samba share thing from my Xbox from XBMP the XBMC as they started to become more of a Dashboard replacement with a crossover cable to begin with way back when. Really glad that you found your flavour of media player when you did as I've seen Emby as a Smart TV app as much as Plex but never really had a full idea of how it fared.

M95D 2mo ago

I use Kodi. I never used Plex or Jellyfin. I'm not even sure what they are. They look like media players, but... over the network? I don't really understand how that works. In a web browser? Why whould anyone run a media player in a browser? Can anyone explain?

bigstrat2003 2mo ago
Essentially, think of it as Netflix for which you provide the media yourself. A browser is one possible way to connect, but clients exist too (e.g. a Roku app and so on). Having the ability to connect with a client running on something connected to your TV is nice, as is the ability to connect remotely (if you open up the ports on your firewall of course). It also gives you things like remembering what shows you were watching and giving a shortcut to the next episode, intro skipping, transcoding, and so on.
- M95D 2mo ago
  Nope. I still don't get it. (Maybe because I'm too old for this stuff?) > think of it as Netflix for which you provide the media yourself. Netflix is a provider of content. If I have the content, why do I need a provider for? > Having the ability to connect with a client running on something connected to your TV is nice (???) But that's what I'm doing now with Kodi. > as is the ability to connect remotely (if you open up the ports on your firewall of course). Wireguard (only one port), and all home LAN is accessible, not just one service. > It also gives you things like remembering what shows you were watching and giving a shortcut to the next episode Kodi does that too. Or maybe you mean it remembers between player devices? See ep.1 on player A and it shows up as seen when I start player B too? That's nice. I think I read somewhere that Kodi can use a remote MySQL/MariaDB for it's library too. I could probably set up a shared DB. > intro skipping How does it know where the intro is and how long? > transcoding If I were to install Plex/Jellyfin it would be where the storage is - on a router that also serves as a NAS. It doesn't have the power to transcode anything, not even audio. Meanwhile, the lowest spec phone can play everything. So, why would anyone transcode in 2026?
  - 2mo ago

pjjpo 2mo ago

I think anyone grandfathered in to a lifetime license is getting a pretty good deal on this. Mine was $119 in 2017. The only other lifetime license I have bought is Adguard, also excellent. Software that gets unlimited updates for a low price is _very rare_ right? If there are other good examples, happy to hear them! I get that things are changing with Plex, naturally given it was a steal. But somehow it feels in bad faith when the author got that great deal but puts out this hit piece.

reprodev 2mo ago
Hi OP here, thanks for reading this and really I'm really glad for your take on this. I get the whole "you need a time machine" to get a good deal and I've definitely missed out on some great ones over the years. I guess this is more for people who already have the deal and for those coming into it fresh today as the information especially from LLMs is so all over the place when I've had folks tell them that ChatGPT said this and not that. I tried to balance it as best I can with me already having that lifetime licence and it's kind of unfair to those who never got it. Maybe it's just a precursor of things to come within tech as people try to monetise things monthly on roadmaps which promise massive potential rather than having faith in their original products. I still think it's a great deal and I hope that came across but $750 now vs $119 when you got it is definitely the point where you have to think about the alternatives out there. I'm lucky to have the years of XP and watched it go from a great alternative to also being something that has suffered from feature creep as it tries to be everything to everyone. This doesn't mean my opinion is any better or even more right than anyone else, it's just my opinion having been through some major touch points in tech history. Even trying to explain the price changes and things that you don't get for the monthly fee to others sends me in circles as it changes so frequently. That unlimited updates thing for a low price is the main reason why it's such a great deal and as time goes on I truly hope it keep innovating as best it can maybe leveraging those brand deals it has which were built on the initial consumer trust it built so well.