A media server is usually the first thing people self-host and the last thing they give up.
Updated 2026-10-03 · 6 options compared
The short answer
Jellyfin, unless a client you actually own refuses to work with it. It is the only mainstream media server with no commercial tier, which is why nothing you depend on today can be moved behind a paywall tomorrow.
A media server is usually the first thing people self-host and the last thing they give up. It is also the category where the marketing is thickest: Plex and Emby both describe themselves as media servers and both have a paid tier that quietly decides which features you get. This list only covers software you can run entirely on your own hardware, ranked on how well it holds up over years rather than on how long its feature list is.
| # | Tool | License | Setup | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jellyfin | GPL-2.0 | Beginner | Anyone with their own film and TV files who wants it to just play, forever. |
| 2 | PhotoPrism | AGPL-3.0 | Intermediate | A large existing photo archive you want to be able to search. |
| 3 | Immich | AGPL-3.0 | Intermediate | Replacing Google Photos or iCloud Photos as the daily driver on your phone. |
| 4 | Audiobookshelf | GPL-3.0 | Beginner | Audiobook collections and podcast subscriptions you want to own. |
| 5 | Navidrome | GPL-3.0 | Beginner | A local music library you want to stream with your choice of client. |
| 6 | Sunshine | GPL-3.0 | Intermediate | Streaming games from a capable PC to a TV, laptop or handheld. |
Pick by what you are storing. Jellyfin for films and television, PhotoPrism or Immich for photographs (they solve genuinely different problems — see below), Navidrome for a music library, Audiobookshelf if audio is the point. The hardware question matters more than the software question: direct playback of a compatible file runs happily on a Raspberry Pi, but transcoding a high-bitrate remux for a device that cannot decode it will crush anything without a GPU.
Best for: Anyone with their own film and TV files who wants it to just play, forever.
No accounts, no telemetry, no upsell, and hardware transcoding is free rather than a subscription feature. The client situation is its weak point — volunteer-built TV apps vary a lot in polish — but the server itself is the one piece of software here that cannot have its features taken away from you later.
Replaces: Plex, Emby, Netflix
Best for: A large existing photo archive you want to be able to search.
A photo library is a search problem more than a storage problem, and PhotoPrism takes that seriously: automatic classification, place and subject detection, and a genuinely fast chronological browse. It is opinionated and wants a proper index, which is the right call once you are past a few thousand images.
Replaces: Google Photos, Adobe Lightroom, Apple Photos
Best for: Replacing Google Photos or iCloud Photos as the daily driver on your phone.
The closest thing to a drop-in Google Photos replacement, including the part that matters most: a mobile app that backs up in the background without you thinking about it. It moves fast and the development velocity is visible in how quickly rough edges disappear, which is exactly what you want from something holding your camera roll.
Replaces: Google Photos, iCloud Photos, Amazon Photos
Best for: Audiobook collections and podcast subscriptions you want to own.
Audiobooks and podcasts have different needs from music — chapter tracking, sleep timers, resumable playback across devices, series metadata — and a music server bolted onto them shows. Audiobookshelf is built for the format, and it handles podcast subscriptions alongside your own library.
Replaces: Audible, Spotify, Apple Podcasts
Best for: A local music library you want to stream with your choice of client.
It speaks the Subsonic API, which means dozens of mature mobile and desktop clients already exist — you are not waiting for the project to ship an app. Light enough to run on the smallest VPS, and it stays out of the way of a music collection that is already organised.
Replaces: Spotify, Apple Music, Plex
Best for: Streaming games from a capable PC to a TV, laptop or handheld.
Not a library at all, but the other half of the media question: streaming a game or a desktop session from a machine with a GPU to a device without one. Pair it with Moonlight on the client and it is the most practical self-hosted answer to remote play that exists today.
Replaces: Steam Link, GeForce NOW, Parsec