Best open-source alternatives to Plex

Jellyfin is a free software media server intended for people who want to manage and stream their own media from a dedicated server to end-user devices. It is positioned as an alternative to proprietary media platforms such as Emby and Plex, with a focus on user control and self-hosted operation. The project’s README emphasizes that the server backend is part of a broader Jellyfin ecosystem, including a separate web client and other companion projects. It supports cross-platform development on major operating systems, provides a web interface at a local address when running, and includes documented API access. The README also highlights a no-premium model and points users to installation, quick start, contributing, and documentation resources.

Kodi is a free and open source home theater and media center application aimed at people who want a polished, couch-friendly way to browse and play their digital media. It runs as a native app on major desktop, mobile, and TV platforms, and is positioned both as a general media player and as an HTPC-focused entertainment hub. The project emphasizes local media management and network playback. It can play many audio and video formats, stream from home networks or the internet, and automatically build a media library with metadata such as covers, descriptions, and fanart. Kodi also supports a skinning engine, playlists, slideshows, weather information, visualizations, and a large add-on ecosystem for extending functionality.

Stash is a self-hosted web application written in Go for managing personal media libraries. It is aimed at users who want to organize and browse diverse video and image collections, including collections with adult content, from a browser-based interface. The application scans user-selected media directories, then lets users curate, edit, tag, and search items after indexing. It also pulls metadata from external sites using scrapers and community-built plugins, and can connect to metadata sources such as StashDB and other stash-box instances to enrich collections with performers, studios, descriptions, and related information.

NymphCast is a network media streaming project that turns supported hardware into an audio and video receiver for TVs or powered speakers. It is composed of a server-side receiver, client applications, a shared library for client development, and an optional media server component. The project is aimed at users who want to play media over a local network from a client device or media server, including audio, video, and URL-based streams. It also includes experimental support for extensibility through AngelScript-based apps and customizable client interfaces. The README describes multiple operating modes such as audio-only, video, screensaver, and GUI/smart TV use, along with platform support spanning desktop, mobile, and SBC targets.

Kyoo is a self-hosted media server aimed at people who want to stream movies, TV series, and anime with minimal maintenance. It is presented as an alternative to Jellyfin and Plex, with a design goal of handling messy media libraries without requiring strict folder structures or manual metadata cleanup. The project focuses on built-in capabilities rather than plugins and includes features such as dynamic transcoding, preview thumbnails, intro and credit detection, subtitle handling, and anime-specific filename parsing. It supports a web client, offers OIDC-based sign-in, and provides an API for integration with other services. The README also highlights deployment options including Docker, Kubernetes, and an official Helm chart.

Retrom is a self-hosted game library management service designed for people who want to centralize and organize DRM-free games, especially emulated titles, on their own infrastructure. It lets a host machine store the library while client devices connect to browse, download, install, uninstall, and launch games from the same collection. The project is geared toward users who want a Steam-like experience for personal game libraries, but with control over local files and emulation workflows. It supports web and desktop clients, library scanning, metadata and artwork enrichment, per-client emulator profiles, and integration with external libraries such as Steam and GOG. The README also shows a roadmap for server and client features, indicating an actively evolving self-hosted platform.

Gerbera is a UPnP media server designed to make locally stored digital media available across a home network. It is intended for users who want to stream audio, video, and images to UPnP-compatible renderers and devices without relying on a dedicated cloud service. The project includes a web-based user interface for browsing and managing the media database and file system, along with support for metadata extraction, thumbnail generation, and flexible transcoding through plugins or scripts. It also supports automated rescanning of media directories, metadata-driven server layout, Last.fm scrobbling, and serving external URLs as UPnP content. The README positions it as a cross-platform server that runs on Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, and multiple CPU architectures.

RapidBay is a self-hosted video streaming service built around torrent content. It is aimed at users who want to search for media, choose a specific video file from a torrent, and then watch it in a browser or cast it to devices such as Apple TV or Chromecast. The project uses Jackett as its torrent indexer/search backend and can also register itself as a handler for magnet links. The application automates much of the media preparation workflow. It can download subtitles, convert video and subtitle formats for browser compatibility, transcode unsupported audio to AAC, and clean up disk usage automatically. It can be run via Docker or installed from source with Python-related dependencies, and the README also describes using it with Kodi and Real Debrid caching.

Audioserve is a self-hosted audio server aimed primarily at personal audiobook libraries, though it can serve any audio collection organized in folders. It focuses on a minimalist workflow where browsing is driven by directory structure rather than audio tags, and it supports multiple collections so different libraries can be switched in the client. The project includes a Rust server, a modern web PWA client, an older web client, and an Android client. It also exposes a simple API for custom clients. To improve responsiveness on larger libraries, it caches collection data in an embedded database and can watch directories for changes, rescan on demand, and transcode audio for playback. The README also highlights security considerations for internet-facing deployments and provides installation paths for Docker, Docker Compose, static builds, and local source builds.

Reaparr is a web project promoted on its website and DockerHub, but the provided README does not describe its function clearly.