JellyFin is janky, but free. When something goes wrong, you can fix it.
The big thing is time investment. It is not for people who need it to "just work" - it is very much a tinkerer platform at this point.
Plex is trending worse, though (Oh, I see you've mentioned the non-web interface. Carry on then.)
Re:New Lifetime Plex Pass Pricing
by unethical_ban on Tuesday May 19, 2026 @10:50AM
(#48194102)
Jellyfin hardware transcoding is free, where Plex isn't. Biggest reason I originally switched. Iirc Plex library management and indexing is better.
Oh and user management is local, which I prefer.
Ya this is what I remember alienated me from Plex. Zero complaints with Jellyfin all these years.
I have no idea who will ever buy a lifetime pass at 10x what I paid for Plex in 2019. I struggled with the decision to pay $75 back then. There were effectively zero competitors to their product then.