Plex, Emby, JellyFin - Which is the Best?

We compare Plex, emby and JellyFin in 2020.

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[AnthonyLavado]

From the Jellyfin Team, thanks for covering us! We're always moving forward so for anyone looking, definitely keep watching us.

[DesertForaging]

One BIG difference is HW transcoding fees. Both Plex and Emby require a subscription to take advantage of it, whereas, Jellyfin includes it for free. If you are running a low powered cpu with integrated graphics (like your Celeron) you'll want to be using HW transcoding.

[Jacespace]

ive been a plex guy for years, but trying out JellyFin, which one thing i found out it still works even when the internet is out!! which is great

[litarea]

Just want to point out that Emby does have a 25 user limit, even with Premiere. above that you have to pay more depending on how many actual users you will have. Won't be a problem for most people but something to consider.

[EmmaGoodwinGeek]

Jeff, thanks so much for producing these videos. I've learned so much from you. You keep it simple and acknowledge any mistakes. I know the internet can be harsh and critique every little word. Keep up the great work.

[Kludgedean]

Couldn't be a better time for this, been pondering the question for over a month straight!
Many thanks, Jeff!

[shaneyoung]

Haven't tried JellyFin yet. I started with Plex, but then moved on to Emby because it's more user friendly and more customizable. You can change even the thumbnails of music videos, TV shows, movies, etc. Emby is best for personalizing your experience.

[Baelish-fxew]

Emby is my personal favorite. Has great apps for smart TV and works fantastic on a NAS

[prouuun]

Have all three on OMV 5 Server installed and at the end I actually use Plex. Because the Apps and Community is really good.

Parental control is no problem in plex.

[jimbo-dev]

The most important feature of jellyfin is the GPL licence - I don’t want my media server to spy on me and free (as in freedom) licence is the only way to prove that

[marcin_karwinski]

And more importantly for HW acceleration in de-/en-/trans-coding PLEX requires the PLEX Pass be provided unless you're running it of the nVidia Shield or WD MyColudEx devices, similarly hardware acceleration in Emby requires that you shell out on the Premiere subscription. Without HW acceleration those weak/old CPUs usually found in most NASes or make-shift home servers can make devices streaming service stuttery when actively used by several clients or with heavy x264/x265/x265-10b files...

[FlexibleToast]

Those "extra" features on Plex are the biggest reason I started looking for something different. I've been a Plexpass user for ~7 years now and I'm tired of them trying to shove more of their content on me. Was very glad to find a true open source alternative with Jellyfin, but I dread the hassle of losing may watch statuses.

One really fringe use case that benefits Plex is I found a project to make Plex Kubernetes friendly. It actually spins up a pod per transcode making it really scalable. Would love to see that with Jellyfin.

[RajuSingh-xnod]

I have been using emby heavily for 6+ years. The backup and restore feature on the lifetime premier is so worth it, through multiple hdd failures and pcs that have failed over the years, it keeps track of the users history on the media which is priceless in a restore or server upgrade. Lastly I have found that plexa media translation and playback is slower and requires more beefier hardware compared to emby.

[Felix-vehs]

I use Plex and bought the lifetime plex pass, works perfectly for my needs. I also tried emby, but there weren't really any features that made me want to switch.

[romanolecoursier]

Hi, I’m just getting started with all of this and I was wondering if you knew of any step by step tutorial to choose/setup a NAS with a VPN, radarr, sonarr, lidarr and transmission then link it to Emby or Plex or Jellyfin to be able to track/download/upgrade and watch movies anywhere in the world from my NAS?
And also what NAS do you recommend ?

[MorbidVizions]

Solid comparison video, that's for taking the time to make this video! Thinking I'll look into emby or jellyfin here shortly.

[martinspilovsky]

Great video, can I ask if I want to have at home a similar experience on my TV what netflix provides I need an home media secret with client and server so emby should be possibly best option I don't mind spending the 100. Do I need an device with HW transcoding or can I consider some arm based nas? Thank you

[PaPaTheGMan]

I've tried all three and settled on emby. Two main reasons drove me to emby. I use Roku as my primary streaming device. Jellyfin doesn't support Roku, so it's out from the start. Plex buffers like crazy when trying to view a movie or TV show, emby doesn't. It is pointed at the same library as Plex, but doesn't buffer at all. Second, emby supports m3u music playlists. I have a large collection of music which is separately organized into playlists. Plex won't read them, emby picks them up perfectly.

[garymartynuk]

I've got a lifetime license for Plex and Emby. I used Plex for ages, but then I set up a DVR but the tv guide information was terrible. They have now moved from Tivo back to Gracenote which is an improvement, but the UK program guide is still full of errors which result in missed recordings all the time. The program guide in Emby is simply faultless. Been using it for a year now and Emby has never missed an episode. Plex would normally miss 3 or 4 episodes per month where they had messed up the 'new' tags, or missed the programe information for a time period, or simply had the incorrect information.

So Plex is great, but if you want a DVR is has to be Emby in the UK, Plex simply cannot get their guide data right.

[shalamigri]

I've been using Plex since 2009. However, I'm VERY pleased with Jellyfin. Looks like I'll be using both from here on out. Will definitely be donating to this project.