Open-source alternatives to Plex
The most popular self-hosted, open-source alternatives to Plex (personal media server) are Jellyfin (58,215 GitHub stars), Kodi (21,345 GitHub stars) and PeerTube (15,365 GitHub stars). SelfHostHub lists 12 options below, taken from its Multimedia Streaming and Video Streaming categories; 6 support Docker and all of them can run on your own server.
Comparison of self-hosted Plex alternatives
| Project | GitHub stars | Licence | Language / platform | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jellyfin | 58,215 | GPL-2.0 | C#, deb, Docker | Media server for audio, video, books, comics, and photos with a sleek interface and robust transcoding capabilities. Almost all modern platforms have clients, including Roku, Android TV, iOS, and Kodi. |
| Kodi | 21,345 | GPL-2.0 | C++, deb | Multimedia/Entertainment center, formerly known as XBMC. Runs on Android, BSD, Linux, macOS, iOS and Windows. |
| PeerTube | 15,365 | AGPL-3.0 | Nodejs | Decentralized video streaming platform using P2P (BitTorrent) directly in the web browser. |
| Stash | 13,141 | AGPL-3.0 | Docker, Go | A web-based library organizer and player for your adult media stash, with auto-tagging and metadata scraping support. |
| Owncast | 11,613 | MIT | Go | Decentralized single-user live video streaming and chat server for running your own live streams similar in style to the large mainstream options. |
| MediaCMS | 5,158 | AGPL-3.0 | Python, Docker | Modern, fully featured open source video and media CMS, written in Python/Django/React, featuring a REST API. |
| NymphCast | 2,567 | BSD-3-Clause | C++ | Turn your choice of Linux-capable hardware into an audio and video source for a television or powered speakers (alternative to Chromecast). |
| Kyoo | 2,542 | GPL-3.0 | Docker | Innovative media browser designed for seamless streaming of anime, series and movies, offering advanced features like dynamic transcoding, auto watch history and intelligent metadata retrieval. |
| CyTube | 1,588 | MIT | Nodejs | Synchronize media, chat, and more for an arbitrary number of channels. |
| Gerbera | 1,397 | GPL-2.0 | Docker, deb, C++ | UPnP Media Server, which allows you to stream your digital media throughout your home network and listen to/watch it on a variety of UPnP compatible devices. |
| SyncTube | 395 | MIT | Nodejs, Haxe | Lightweight and very simple to setup CyTube alternative to watch videos with friends and chat. |
| mikochi | 378 | MIT | Go, Docker, K8S | Browse remote folders, upload files, delete, rename, download and stream files to VLC/mpv. |
Star counts and licences come from the awesome-selfhosted dataset and may lag GitHub slightly.
Browse the full categories
All self-hosted Media Streaming - Multimedia Streaming · All self-hosted Media Streaming - Video Streaming
Frequently asked questions
What is the best open-source alternative to Plex?
By GitHub stars, Jellyfin is the most popular self-hosted alternative to Plex listed here, followed by Kodi and PeerTube. The best fit depends on the features and stack you need.
Is there a free self-hosted alternative to Plex?
Yes. All 12 projects on this page are open source and can be self-hosted at no licence cost; you pay only for your own server.
Which licences do these Plex alternatives use?
The most common licences among them are MIT (4), GPL-2.0 (3) and AGPL-3.0 (3).
Can I run a Plex alternative with Docker?
6 of the 12 alternatives list Docker as a supported platform.