Hello! I’m just a guy who saw plex is on sale.
My current setup uses jellyfin, I use FLAC music and 4k films. I use Finamp on my iPhone and the jellyfin desktop client.
Now my question is, why?
Both platforms are great but I’m a guy who likes all free. No farm, no foul to the lifetime pass users of plex though. But I’ll scroll and I’ll see: “100% worth it!” ; “I could never go back”. Now this doesn’t capture everyone’s opinions, but out of the features they display that make lifetime unique is Transcoding (something I think you should have a right to after owning the processor) and plexamp which, I cannot rate its experience, but from what I hear it’s solid. But I’ve also heard it’s got its bugs and downloads can be finicky.
So, as a jellyfin user, why might I care or want to switch to plex?
(I’m not ignoring the issues jellyfin has, I don’t really experience any though and bugs are minimal for my case)
(I’ve posted in this sub instead of plex because I want mixed, not skewed results and yes I’ve searched the history, but I don’t think any question truly validates why transcoding or similar should be a $100+ “feature”. That’s snake oil marketing.
If Jellyfin covers all your needs and you’re already familiar with it, there’s not much reason to change to Plex.
Plex pass will let you skip intros and credits. It’s a nice-to-have. It will let you download your media to your phone/laptop so you can view it without an internet connection. Also a nice-to-have, but not a huge selling point.
I like Plex for how easy it is to access my media from outside my network. The apps are great, and it’s easy to add family and friends so they get access too. With Plex pass you can give them filtered access - great with kids in the house.
My Plex server runs from my Synology 920+, and I’ve never had any luck getting transcoding to be a useful feature - lots of freezes and buffering. Better to have the arr’s grab media in a format that will direct play on the client and not bother with the headache.
I use PlexAmp and it’s a very good music player on par with anything else.
Nothing is so good/problem free that I wouldn’t replace it in a heartbeat the moment Plex does some questionable changes to the service. I got my Plex pass many years ago at a third of the cost that it is today, and I didn’t really know what I was getting, other than making the Plex app free for everyone logging in to my server.
I have an old intro-skipper plugin that works really well for Jellyfin and I hear the new version / fork can also skip credits but I haven’t checked it out yet.
Well, It Just Works™. Until recently I haven’t had any reason to change. It’s user friendly, easy to set up and looks great.
Though I’ll be switching to Jellyfin soon, when I have the time, because (for reasons irrelevant to this comment) my NAS where Plex is located doesn’t have access to the internet which somehow means Plex cannot show me my local files which I’m not particularly fond of.
What I’ll be missing when I make the switch is an app for Tizen TVs.
I don’t mind paying for the past and future development of a service I enjoy. Transcoding is an essential feature for me. While it’s a free feature of the processor, developing software support for it took effort. Other services provide that support for free, but Plex bundles it with other features they charge for. I think that’s fine. As I see it my money goes to support the full experience, from wide app support and good UI to Plexamp and other fun and useful side projects. In fact in a way I am subsidizing much of the experience for free users. Again, I don’t mind, as long as it means Plex’s development and maintenance continues.
I don’t get why people get so tribal about this. I think it’s great Jellyfin is a free and open alternative and if that works for you, fantastic!
I’ve never used jellyfin so I can’t compare. But plex has always worked well for me and I believe in paying for software that I enjoy using.
Plex is still on top for sharing your server with others and offers clients on so many more platforms. My TV for example is a Samsung and there is no Jellyfin app for it. I run both side by side because I prefer jellyfin for use on my devices but there’s a time where having plex there is useful
Jellyfin isn’t even close to the level of polish and ease of use as plex. It’s junk when compared side by side.
Why?
Because I picked up a lifetime pass over 10 years ago, long before Jellyfin/Emby was even heard of.
Back then, it worked perfectly fine, and now it works, perfectly fine.
It has a good app on my Rokus/Shields. It just works.
When, it stops working, or they pull something stupid, I have Jellyfin already ready to go.
Until then though, plex reigns king. (Also, I like its interface more then Jellyfin)
Jellyfin does not have a global auth
I bought the lifetime pass many many many many many years ago when it was cheap… dirt cheap and love it… my family uses Plex daily. We have no paid streaming services and no paid TV services just Plex. Only thing I cannot make work in Plex well is IPTV as xTeve just sucked and was constantly dropping channels because the Channel Guide Feed would have an issue when it was refreshed and Plex would say “sorry no guide no channel” and just mark it not available. It was a weekly fight.
I have over 150,000 FLAC audio files and tons of 4k movies and TV Shows. Kids love to watch their shows and movies as do my wife and I.
I have Jellyfin setup for IPTV and have used it off and on for years. The iOS client has remained “okay but clunky to me.” I mean it works, but really gets no love no real updates and while I dont have a great need for Transcoding with Plex it is nice to have that feature. The Roku client is the same. I have mostly Roku TCL 4K TVs and streamers and that client has looked the same and clunky for years. Again it works (explodes occasionally but really it does work pretty solidly) but Plex just brings so much more to it to the media you are watching.
Would I pay the higher price for PlexPass now if I did not own it or just use and live with JellyFin? I would most likely still pay the price (on sale when they send me the discount code) and get the deal. It is just worth it to me.
Also the home user lock down features like I can share specific libraries or just specific TV shows or movies with my kids I like with Plex. Not sure If I can even do that with JellyFin (never researched it so it might be there).
User management does exist in jellyfin and you can control what library as well as ratings.
You make a good point to. Plex being for profit, can do stuff with the money. In reality, I’d be making an investment into the company which yes incurs its own risks but that’s life.
Thank you, and I will definitely give Plex another shot when I go home today! Will I buy the pass? I’m not sure. I’m more convinced it could be the better option though, even though one is free. I also would love to see jellyfin grow and although I have coding experience, I haven’t the time to invest in learning and adding to a project like itself.
My Jellfin server has crashed a few times for no ryhme or reason without having touched it for a couple of weeks (no patches, no watchtower for docker, just dead). Plex has been fine.
Plex has proper intro skipping.
I was able to set up parental controls on Plex very quickly without any headache.
The wife/kid factor. Plex was/is easier for them.
The amount of time I have invested into managing Plex over the past decade is still less than I have into managing Jellyfin in the past 3 years.
Lifetime plexpass was gifted to me.
- No app. Just web required
- No user management - that’s handled by someone else (Plex)
- Stupid simple (app for everything) so end users (family) don’t have to… figure it out. Thus fewer IT tickets for me.
- Just works.
I used to selfhost both at once and try them but Jellyfin used a ton of RAM when idle.
I moved from plex to jellyfin. I was on plex at first because I was a noob at docker, and plex had a simple package install for my Synology.
I like Plex due to legacy compatibility. I have an old Samsung TV from 2012 and Plex still works on that.
I don’t need to pay anything and I can see my movies everywhere in the world thanks to vpn hosting.
It does exactly what I need.
For me plex just seems to be better in all aspects. It is more “polished”. Quick example, I have more than a few movies that are in 2 parts (moviename_cd1.mp4, moviename_cd2.mp4). In plex I see one poster for the movie and when it plays it seamlessly plays both in sequence. In jellyfin I get two posters for the same movie. Very small issue but it is one of many that keep me in plex,
Add to this that the plex app on mobile, smart tv, appletv, toaster, etc just works. If I want to let my family or friends watch something its simple.
Further, plexamp is fantastic.
