A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
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Plex is once again increasing the monthly price users must pay to stream their own media (if this is you, why haven't you purchased a lifetime pass yet?)
Better yet, why have you not migrated to Jellyfin. Why are you paying someone else to view your own stuff?
The hard part about Jellyfin is that it requires your own domain and some more self-hosting knowledge that a hobbyist might not have yet.
It's not a super hard transition, but it took me a few months on/off to learn the basics of hosting a website from my house.
I'm still trying to figure out headscale on a VPS so I can mask my home IP
I have my own domains, but I do not use them for Jellyfin. I use Jellyfin on my lan or over my personal VPN.
That means it can't be shared (easily) with others. That's the appeal of Plex and the reason why switching entirely to Jellyfin is not an easy thing to do.
Exactly, I am not going to troubleshoot VPNs with my mother in law when they have an issue.
that's valid, but would you rather spend $8/year on a domain and spend an hour setting it up, or pay a monthly subscription to a closed source plex server?
Also, there's *arr stack applications for helping non-technical users get set up on your jellyfin server, even helping them get set up with request apps too. JFA-GO is also a jellyfin native option for sending user invites.
Oh, I didn't mean to say I was using Plex there. Jellyfin + domain + reverse proxy is what I do for both Jellyfin and Seerr. I was just saying people who say "wireguard is the only way to go" aren't taking into account all workflows, like sharing with family and having them connect via their TVs.
I also just don't want family and friends on my home network all the time, haha.
Makes sense!
wg-easy. Makes Wireguard dead easy.
So all the people who want to use your Jellyfin server have to deal with a VPN first?
That's my point. Plex was easily accessible for friends and family with minimal setup. Jellyfin requires a bit more knowledge.
You're making it sound like I'm making my users walk a mile on burning coals! Yes, I do expect them to be able to be able to tie their shoelaces, install an application and scan a QR code. It's not like they're not getting anything in return for such "trouble". ;)
Most people should be using a VPN and not exposing these things to the internet at large via proxies or port forwards.
Right, but if you're hosting Plex then you've likely shared it with friends/family. Jellyfin isn't as easy to share.
It's also pretty insecure so host over the web at your own risk.
Is it? I've heard it is fine as long as you are running a reverse proxy, using https, and following the conventional wisdom.
There are a lot of unsecured endpoints in the system, the devs know its an issue.
Give Netbird a shot. I set it up in like two hours. Much easier than my failed attempt at headscale+tailscale.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| Plex | Brand of media server package |
| VPN | Virtual Private Network |
| VPS | Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting) |
4 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 22 acronyms.
[Thread #294 for this comm, first seen 15th May 2026, 22:40] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
The website for JDownloader (download manager) was recently compromised, replacing official download links with malware-laced installers
So, no changes?
What is that picture? The blogpost doesn't elaborate on it...
It looks like the educational website Kahoot. As a teacher, I hoped this was some open source version of it that I might more easily catch the cheating students in my classes.
Razzia, formerly Rahoot. Self hostable.
Lol, seems like they had some trouble over trademarks or something
Disclaimer: Razzia is an independent, open-source software project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any third-party quiz platform or service. Any resemblance to other quiz platforms is purely incidental
Looks like the razzia image, but somewhat hard to see on mobile
This looks really cool
🤣 Its not working! 🤣
Works for me, dunno what to say.
Skill issue I think from my side.