this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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Incase you haven't heard it enough, jellyfin is free and not anymore difficult to set up. If I can figure it out then you're probably well capable of it.
Unless something has changed, it doesn't have the remote streaming capabilities of Plex. Not saying one can't remote stream, but it's not as simple as installing a client and logging in. It requires network config and security, VPNs, and each client to setup stuff too. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that though.
Plex has been enshitifying but I'm on the lifetime pass so for me things are free and just work still.
I think that for now you are still good to go with Plex. One suggestion, though: take a look at all your server and admin toggles. There are things that you may prefer to be off that are defaulted to opt-in.
I don't have a working server at the moment so I can't check the latest stuff for myself, but the last time I was able to, I found some stuff I could opt out of with just a click, mostly involving the Plaex Network and keeping my user accounts strictly local.
Like many people stating you just need to setup VPN, I use wire guard everything works perfectly. Sure it is more complex than Plex, but there are tutorials everywhere.
It's more about my clients than for me. I've used tailscale with good success for other applications, but that's mostly something I don't want to need to explain to 10-20 people.
It really is as simple as installing a client and logging in. Simpler, actually. You can just open it in a browser and login. Any hosting is going to require network config, but it's just port forwarding which is as basic as it gets
I'm seeing that you can use VPN like tailscale, setup a reverse proxy, or just open ports. Just opening ports and giving direct access is a security vulnerability and not recommended. VPN is easy, but not something I would want to try and get my clients to sign up for and show them how to use. Reverse proxy seems like the best option, but that's not easier than just installing the Plex client for streaming that has the proxy built in.
A reverse proxy does not add any security compared to opening a port, it just makes it easier to access the service using a URL. A VPN is the only sensible way a Jellyfin instance should be exposed to the internet
A VPN has never been required. You can always just configure a port forward and/or firewall on your router.
https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/post-install/networking/
It's not particularly difficult, and it's fully documented.
And the jellyfin developers have said that several of the security concerns around doing this will likely never be resolved.
Also if you want HTTPS, and goodlordits2026ofcourseyoudo, this is absolutely not as easy as opening a port.
Fair enough! I run my own kubernetes cluster at home, that has JF as a service 😅
So I may be slightly out of touch
I have that and more but won't set this up
You're right in that its fully documented, but it seems your understanding differs from the documentation. Your provided link explicitly says, "Opening a port directly to the Internet is therefore insecure and not recommended."
There is still no feature parity. I even have Emby lifetime but still switched back to Plex, because it is unfortunately so much better.
Jellyfin lacks a good head engineer, which is why it will always be subpar to Plex and also Emby
I think I deleted Plex$ I think 4 or 5 years ago and never looked back. Jellyfin is 1:1 replacement for me. I plugged it to my certbot Letsencrypt certificates, did ip forward on exit of my wireguard tunnel connected to my domain and can play my stuff anywhere. It runs fine on old thin client qith ancient quad-core AMD GX cpu. No transcoding acceleration, but I have net fast everywhere I go, so I don't need it.