Part 3 of 4 — Getting Started with Your Synology · ← Part 2: Docker vs. Package Center
Here’s where the series splits. Everything up to this point applies no matter what you’re building — but Plex and Jellyfin aren’t two steps in the same build, they’re two different answers to the same question. Nobody runs both as their actual media server. Pick a side.
⚡ Plex — the light side
Company-run, polished, and it just works almost everywhere — every TV, every streaming box, every phone has a good Plex app, and remote access is close to zero-configuration. The cost is that a company sits in the middle of your own media library: pricing can change (it already has, dramatically), and some features live behind a subscription. This is what we actually run.
🌑 Jellyfin — the dark side
Free, fully open source, nothing phones home, no account required to even set it up. The cost is that you’re the support department — device app quality varies more, and you’re relying on a volunteer-driven project instead of a company with a roadmap and a support line. Also the reason this whole guide exists: a company can’t do to Jellyfin what Plex just did to its own pricing.
Already on Plex and thinking about jumping ship? There’s a guide for that too: migrating from Plex to Jellyfin without losing your watch history.