Jellyfin — A free, open-source, self-hosted media server for streaming your own movies, TV shows, music, and live TV, with no subscription fees or premium tiers.
By Noahlast updated pricing verified
Jellyfin screenshots & video
Jellyfin in 20 seconds
Best for: self-hosters who want to stream their own media library with no subscription fee
Pricing: Completely free with no paid tier; funded entirely by donations.
- Jellyfin is free and open source under the GPL-2.0 license.
- It has no paid tier, premium plan, or account requirement.
- It was created as a fork of Emby after Emby closed parts of its codebase.
- Official clients cover web, Windows/macOS/Linux desktop, and Android/Android TV; iOS access uses community clients like Swiftfin.
- The Jellyfin GitHub repository has 56.0k stars.
Limitations: No official iOS/tvOS app from the core project.; Requires self-managing server hardware, updates, and remote access.; No paid support option; troubleshooting relies on community resources.; Transcoding performance depends entirely on the user's own hardware.
Top alternatives: Plex, Emby, Kodi, Universal Media Server — full list
What is Jellyfin?
Jellyfin is self-hosted media server software: it runs on a user's own computer or NAS, organizes a personal library of movies, TV shows, music, books, and photos, and streams that content to client apps on other devices, including live TV with DVR recording. It was created as a fully open-source fork after Emby restricted parts of its codebase, and remains volunteer-developed under the GPL-2.0 license with no corporate owner, no premium license tier, and no account or subscription requirement to use it. Officially supported clients include the web interface, desktop apps for Windows/macOS/Linux, and Android/Android TV apps; iOS and tvOS access comes through community-maintained clients like Swiftfin rather than an official Jellyfin app. Because there is no company behind it, all development and infrastructure costs are covered by donations.
Jellyfin is a free, open-source media server that lets users run their own personal streaming service from a home server or NAS, positioned as a fully open alternative to the proprietary Plex and Emby. It is licensed under GPL-2.0, has no paid tier, premium license, or account requirement, and is funded entirely through voluntary donations. Users install the Jellyfin server on their own hardware and connect via official web, desktop (Windows/macOS/Linux), Android, and Android TV clients, plus community clients like Swiftfin for iOS and tvOS, to stream a personally curated media library, including live TV and DVR support. Jellyfin differentiates from Plex and Emby by having no paid plan of any kind, at the tradeoff of a smaller polish budget and no official iOS app maintained by the core project.
Standout feature: There is no paid tier, premium plan, or account requirement of any kind; every feature, including live TV and DVR, is free and the project has no commercial owner.
Biggest weakness: There is no official iOS or tvOS app maintained by the core project (iOS access relies on community clients like Swiftfin), and as fully self-hosted, community-supported software, users are responsible for their own server setup, updates, and troubleshooting with no paid support option to fall back on.
Pros
- Completely free with no subscription, premium tier, or paid feature gating.
- Fully open source under GPL-2.0 with an active, transparent development community.
- No account requirement or phone-home telemetry to a third-party company.
- Supports live TV and DVR recording alongside standard on-demand media streaming.
Cons
- No official iOS/tvOS app from the core project; iOS users rely on community-maintained clients like Swiftfin.
- Self-hosting requires users to manage their own server hardware, updates, and remote-access configuration.
- No paid support tier means troubleshooting relies on community forums and documentation rather than a vendor.
- Transcoding performance depends entirely on the user's own hardware, unlike cloud-hosted competitors with managed infrastructure.
Jellyfin pricing
Free · verified from the vendor's pricing page
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Full media server software with no feature restrictions, no account requirement, and no premium tier; funded by voluntary donations. |
What reviewers say
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