Every homelab eventually asks this question. You get a media library going, you want to watch it on a TV that isn’t hooked to a laptop, and you have to pick a server.
The short version
Plex is polished, easy, and increasingly expensive. Jellyfin is free, open source, and asks more of you up front. We run Plex here, with a Jellyfin migration in the “eventually” pile, which is a phrase every homelabber has attached to at least one thing at all times.
Where Plex wins
Client apps, mostly. Plex on a Roku, a smart TV, an Xbox, whatever, just works and looks good doing it. Remote access is close to zero-configuration because Plex runs the relay for you.
If you’re setting this up for family who don’t want to hear the phrase “reverse proxy,” Plex removes friction Jellyfin still hands you to deal with.
Where Jellyfin wins
It’s all free. Hardware transcoding, remote streaming, all of it. No account required, no phone-home authentication. Plex has been raising prices and moving features behind paywalls, and the Lifetime Pass nearly tripled this year. That’s the kind of move that makes self-hosters nervous, and it’s why we started paying attention to Jellyfin in the first place.
Jellyfin also keeps working when your internet doesn’t. No cloud dependency, no “please check your connection to Plex” screen on a server sitting ten feet away.
The catch
Remote access on Jellyfin is a project, not a checkbox. You’re looking at a reverse proxy with real HTTPS, a VPN mesh like Tailscale, or WireGuard if you want to do it the hard way. Some TV apps are still rougher than Plex’s.
If it needs to just work for your parents from across the country, budget an evening to set it up properly and test it before you promise anyone anything.
Our actual take
If you already own the hardware and don’t mind a setup weekend, Jellyfin is the better long-term bet. You aren’t renting access to your own media library from a company that can change the terms whenever it wants.
If you want something you can hand to a technically uninterested family member with zero explanation, Plex still has the edge, subscription creep and all.
Both of those can be true at the same time, which is roughly why the migration keeps not happening here.
Update
We wrote up the actual how-to: migrating from Plex to Jellyfin, using a tool that syncs watch history and ratings without touching a single media file. Still on Plex as of this update. The guide’s there for whenever that changes.
There’s also a full Getting Started with Your Synology series covering DSM setup, Docker vs. the Package Center, and installing either one from a clean box, plus a shorter decision guide if you just want the TL;DR.
Part of a bigger project
This is one piece of our Home Media Server project. Full build log and specs are over there. Got a setup of your own, or a fight to pick with our take? The Bench is where we argue about this stuff.