Self-hosted alternatives to Plex

A self-hosted media server with no features locked behind a subscription. Below are 12 open source options you host on your own server — with no monthly per-user fee and full control of your data.

SRS

★ 28,993

A simple, high efficiency and real-time video server, supports RTMP, WebRTC, HLS, HTTP-FLV and SRT.

Media Streaming - Video Streaming MIT

Invidious

★ 20,455

Alternative YouTube front-end.

Media Streaming - Video Streaming AGPL-3.0

PeerTube

★ 14,771

Decentralized video streaming platform using P2P (BitTorrent) directly in the web browser.

Media Streaming - Video Streaming AGPL-3.0

Owncast

★ 11,365

Decentralized single-user live video streaming and chat server for running your own live streams similar in style to the large mainstream options.

Media Streaming - Video Streaming MIT

Tube Archivist

★ 8,145

Organize, search, and enjoy your YouTube collection. Subscribe, download, and track viewed content with metadata indexing and a user-friendly interface.

Media Streaming - Video StreamingArchiving and Digital Preservation (DP) GPL-3.0

Restreamer

★ 5,081

Access H.264 real-time video streaming on your website without a streaming provider.

Media Streaming - Video Streaming Apache-2.0

MediaCMS

★ 4,976

Modern, fully featured open source video and media CMS, written in Python/Django/React, featuring a REST API.

Media Streaming - Video StreamingContent Management Systems (CMS) AGPL-3.0

OvenMediaEngine

★ 3,176

Streaming Server with Sub-Second Latency.

Media Streaming - Video Streaming AGPL-3.0

CyTube

★ 1,574

Synchronize media, chat, and more for an arbitrary number of channels.

Media Streaming - Video Streaming MIT

Rapidbay

★ 873

Videostreaming service/torrent client that allows searching and playing videos from torrents in the browser or from a Chromecast/AppleTV/Smart TV.

Media Streaming - Video Streaming MIT

SyncTube

★ 378

Lightweight and very simple to setup CyTube alternative to watch videos with friends and chat.

Media Streaming - Video Streaming MIT

Channels DVR Server

Flexible server providing a whole home self hosted DVR experience for Channels.

Media Streaming - Video Streaming ⊘ Proprietary

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free self-hosted alternative to Plex?

Yes. We've gathered 12 self-hosted, open source alternatives to Plex — including SRS, Invidious, PeerTube. You run all of them on your own server.

What is the best open source alternative to Plex?

SRS is one of the most popular (28,993 GitHub stars). The "best" depends on your case — compare the options below.

Do I need a server to replace Plex?

Yes. You can use a home server (homelab) or a cheap VPS (from ~€4/mo). See the hosting suggestions on this page.