Tired of Plex’s Anti‑Customer Price Increases? Here’s How to Switch to Jellyfin and Achieve a Plex‑Like Experience

Meanwhile, many users of industry‑leading home media server Plex watched on with slight amusement. That’s because Plex had long abandoned its freeware past and moved on to a freemium model that allowed users to purchase a subscription to unlock advanced features. For them, it was a small price to pay for Plex’s massive feature set, which vastly outstripped anything Emby or Jellyfin could offer.

Cut to today, however, and it’s Plex users who are starting to sweat. Early in May 2026, Plex announced it was increasing the price of its well‑loved Lifetime Plex Pass — which unlocked the platform’s advanced features for life — to an eye‑watering $750 USD. In other words, Plex was sending an unmistakable message that it intends to force users into its monthly subscription plans, like it or not.

With that in mind, we thought it was high time to take another look at Jellyfin, as it’s the only major open‑source media server option left. In doing so, we came away impressed by how far the software has come in just a few short years. And, with a few minor caveats, it’s now mature enough to be a full‑on replacement for Plex. Here’s how to switch to Jellyfin and configure it for a Plex‑like experience.

What You Need to Run Jellyfin

The good news is that Jellyfin runs just fine on any machine capable of running Plex. Ideally, you’ll want a machine with a decent, recent GPU. That will help you support more simultaneous users and power robust transcoding to save bandwidth. Or, if you have a machine with an Intel chipset that supports Quick Sync Video, that will offer you capable H.264 and/or H.265 encoding capabilities. If you have the budget, consider one of Intel’s recent ARC GPUs (the A310 is ideal). That will allow you to hardware‑encode to the AV1 format, ensuring broad compatibility and maximum bandwidth savings.

Getting Jellyfin Running

If you already have Plex running on your target machine in a Docker container, you’ll have an easy time moving to Jellyfin. Otherwise, the easiest path is to install Jellyfin on a separate machine from Plex.

If you’re going with the latter option, start with a clean install of Ubuntu Server. Then, follow that up with an installation of Docker and Portainer. The steps may seem intimidating at first, but if you follow everything as written, you’ll get through it with no trouble. If you prefer a non‑Docker Jellyfin installation, you can find the steps in our original Jellyfin article.

Once you have Docker running on your target machine, you can follow Jellyfin’s official Docker setup guide to get your server running. When complete, you should be able to access Jellyfin from your target machine’s IP address in a web browser, like so: http://your-machine-ip:8096 from any machine on your home network.

Setting Up External Access

We’ve now reached the point that has kept countless Plex users from making the jump to Jellyfin: external access. In reality, transparent relaying for remote access is one of the main killer features that allows Plex to charge monthly or lifetime usage fees. However, with a little effort, you can replicate Plex‑like external access for free. To do it, you’ll need the following:

• A free Cloudflare account and a low‑cost domain name
• A Docker container running Nginx Proxy Manager
• A Docker container running Cloudflare‑DDNS
• Port 443 on your router forwarded to the IP of your Jellyfin server

After you have all those prerequisites, you add your domain name to Nginx Proxy Manager, configure it for HTTPS, and set up automatic security certificates using your free Cloudflare DNS. And once you’ve configured your Cloudflare DDNS instance, your domain name will always point to your home IP address, no matter how many times it changes. And presto — you can access your Jellyfin server from anywhere.

Securing Your Jellyfin Server

Back when we first talked about Jellyfin, it was under‑the‑radar enough that securing your server wasn’t really a major priority. Today, however, just as with Plex servers, someone will try to break into your server if you don’t harden it a bit. It turns out this is another place where Jellyfin has come a long way. By installing the free JellyfinSecurity plugin, you get a hardened server that supports passkeys, emailed one‑time‑use codes, and a long list of other great security features.

Creating a Plex‑Like Jellyfin Experience

Now, obviously, there’s no way to turn Jellyfin into Plex. But you can now get awfully close. The first step is to install the Jellyfin Universal Catalogue plugin. It will give you access to a raft of open‑source plugins that replicate many of Plex’s killer features. If you wish, you can even install a skin that will make your Jellyfin instance look like Plex. Beyond that, the following are a few must‑have plugins to turn Jellyfin into an amazing user experience:

• Intro‑Skipper — Learns the intros and outros of your shows and other media to power a skip‑intro button
• SkipMe.db — Connects to a crowd‑sourced segment database to make intro and outro skipping more accurate
• Fanart.tv — Automates downloading of user‑created media posters, backdrops, logos, and more
• File Transformation and Media Bar — Allows the addition of a customisable homepage display that rotates through available media, complete with automated trailer playback powered by YouTube
• OpenSubtitles — Automatically downloads subtitles when available in all languages you choose

What’s Missing?

Unfortunately, there are a few features Plex offers that Jellyfin still doesn’t. One of them is on‑the‑fly transcodes for downloads. So, if you’re used to grabbing tiny, low‑quality copies of your media from Plex for offline viewing, Jellyfin still can’t do that. However, if you have ample storage space, you can add a Tdarr instance to your Docker stack. Then, you can configure it to pre‑transcode your media to multiple formats, which will enable multi‑quality downloads.

Additionally, if you’ve grown used to watching Plex’s free, ad‑supported TV channels, Jellyfin won’t have those. However, you can add them to the Jellyfin Live TV section by using the playlists and EPGs found here. Unfortunately, Plex often makes changes that may temporarily interrupt access to the channels.

The Bottom Line

If you’re like most Plex users, there’s no longer any compelling reason not to switch to Jellyfin — unless you simply don’t have the time to do the setup work. Because once you do, you’ll get an almost identical feature set that’s completely free and community‑supported. And for anyone who’s thinking that Jellyfin will eventually turn to the dark side and go closed‑source, take heart. The core developers are already dunking on Plex’s price increase, which is a very encouraging sign.

If you decide to take the leap from Plex to Jellyfin, drop us a comment below to let us know how it went.