Plex is a great media streamer, but it's not as good as these free alternatives

I loved using Plex to stream all my media and had it installed on our primary network-attached storage (NAS) enclosure for years, but the added bloat and introduction of streaming from other sources left a sour taste in my mouth. It's also not completely self-hosted whereby you need to pass through the Plex servers for logging in, etc. Not to mention it's no longer completely free, which is where these two excellent media streaming alternatives come into play. One's local and the other is the Plex replacement.

2 Kodi

Create the ultimate home theatre

Kodi is a little more local than Plex and some other media streaming platforms, but it's still worth covering if you have all of your own media to catalog. Instead of streaming files across the network (or externally when configured correctly), Kodi outputs directly through ports to the big screen. This package is designed for home theatre setups where a PC drives content directly to the TV. You can use anything, including a single-board computer (SBC), to create and launch a Kodi multimedia server.

An interesting aspect of Kodi is its community plugins, which can expand the functionality of your home theatre setup and make it far more versatile with access to various streams. Although installing a Kodi plugin will not land you in hot water with the law, content available through certain add-ons may not be legal in your country. We recommend caution when accessing movies, shows, and other media using such sources through plugins. Looking to keep everything local without touching your network? Kodi is for you.

1 Jellyfin

The only media server you need

This is the only one that's needed on the list, to be honest. It's the media streaming package that's often recommended by the self-host community to replace Plex, and is completely open-source and free for you to use. Unlike some other solutions that have a particular focus, Jellyfin aims to replace Emby as a viable free alternative to Plex, allowing you to effectively catalog all your movies, shows, and music on a server, be it a NAS or some home lab setup. It's powerful, easy-to-use, and feature-rich. You won't look back, trust me.

I've saved a ton of cash with Jellyfin too. The longer you use Jellyfin, the better, as these savings only increase over time. The sooner you switch from Plex Pass, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and other services, the more you'll save. The purchase of hardware will drive up the initial cost of hosting and streaming media, not to mention the acquisition of files from various legal destinations, but you're already running Plex, so there's a good chance you have the hardware to run Jellyfin, as it'll need almost what Plex does.

Replacing Plex is easier than you think

Getting rid of a particular service or package can seem daunting at first, especially when you've configured it to your liking and have a few months or years of experience under your belt. Alternatives to Plex, particularly Jellyfin, are set up in such a way that it doesn't take long to grow accustomed to these new solutions. So long as you go in with an open mind, don't mind working with some migration tool (unless starting fresh), and have a few hours free to get everything moved across, you'll be up and running with a free, open-source Plex alternative in no time.