Plex is overkill—this open-source alternative lets you watch your media library without a server or a subscription

Published Sep 13, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT Nick Lewis is an editor at How-To Geek. He has been using computers for 20 years --- tinkering with everything from the UI to the Windows registry to device firmware. Before How-To Geek, he used Python and C++ as a freelance programmer. In college, Nick made extensive use of Fortran while pursuing a physics degree. Nick's love of tinkering with computers extends beyond work. He has been running video game servers from home for more than 10 years using Windows, Ubuntu, or Raspberry Pi OS. He also uses Proxmox to self-host a variety of services, including a Jellyfin Media Server, an Airsonic music server, a handful of game servers, NextCloud, and two Windows virtual machines. He enjoys DIY projects, especially if they involve technology. He regularly repairs and repurposes old computers and hardware for whatever new project is at hand. He has designed crossovers for homemade speakers all the way from the basic design to the PCB. Nick enjoys the outdoors. When he isn't working on a computer or DIY project, he is most likely to be found camping, backpacking, or canoeing. Owning your own media, be it movies, music, or TV shows, is a great way to ensure that a change to a licensing agreement doesn't suddenly deprive you of one of your favorite pastimes. There are a dozen different ways to handle your own media collection, including Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, and others. Those are all good options, but they require setting up and maintaining a server. While that isn't the hardest self-hosting task you'll ever take on, it isn't a plug-and-play solution either. If you want something simpler, you should check out Kodi. It stores and plays your media Credit: Jorge Aguilar / How To GeekCredit: Jorge Aguilar / How To Geek Kodi is designed to be a self-contained media center application. It stores your media and plays it back from the same device, which then connects directly to your display or receiver. Kodi can be configured to play media files from a network device if you want. Unlike a standard media player app on a PC, the user interface is specifically designed for big TVs. You aren't fumbling to navigate a desktop UI designed for a mouse and keyboard; instead, you get an experience designed for use with a remote control across a room. You can even use traditional wireless controllers, like Xbox controllers or a universal remote, to navigate your library. It runs on almost anything You don't need a high-end workstation to get it running. Kodi is available for every major operating system, including Windows, Linux, Android, macOS, and iOS. The actual hardware requirements are modest too. Any desktop or laptop made in the last ten years will be more than enough for 1080p content, and anything approaching upper-mid range will handle even 4K playback without an issue. While a powerful GPU or CPU matters for hardware transcoding—which can be important for Jellyfin or Plex depending on your library's formats—the minimum hardware for getting Kodi up and running is very low, since it really only needs to decode files. Your media library matters Credit: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek It is important to remember that hardware has its limits. Some low-power devices will struggle with high-bitrate 4K remuxes. If your device doesn't have a powerful CPU, a dedicated GPU, or built-in decoding support, some content will just have poor performance. HEVC 10-bit and AV1 are the codecs older PCs are likely to struggle with. To get the best performance, you should figure out which formats you actually need and convert your library in bulk to a format your device can handle natively. You don't need to wait for the device to convert every time you hit play either. If you set up a batch job, you can slowly convert your entire library over a few days or weeks rather than try to do it on-demand. Just keep in mind that re-encoding usually causes quality degradation. I'd recommend keeping your highest quality copy around, even if you can't currently play it directly. How is Kodi different from Jellyfin or Plex, and why use Kodi? Jellyfin and Plex play media, but they're servers Jellyfin, Plex, and Kodi are tools that often show up on lists together because they're all related to playing back movies and TV, but Kodi is fundamentally different in important ways. Kodi is a media player. It stores the media and outputs the video directly to a device like your TV, much like any common media player application you might use on your phone or PC. Jellyfin and Plex, on the other hand, are servers. They store the media and stream the file to a separate playback device, which then handles displaying the media. Kodi shines when you need one device; Jellyfin and Plex thrive with multiple If you just want a dedicated box for your TV, you can simply install Kodi, point it at your files, plug it in, and you're good to go. It is a straightforward, single-device solution. Jellyfin, Plex, and other media servers are designed for a different use case: serving content to multiple devices simultaneously across a network. If you only have one screen in one room, the overhead of a server is unnecessary. Additionally, Kodi has no subscription fees or costs. While Jellyfin is also free, Plex often requires a subscription or a high one-time fee to unlock full functionality. Kodi is a simple way to host your own media You should use Kodi if you want something simple and don't want to mess with the complexities of a full server setup. However, if your goal is to stream your media to multiple devices throughout your house, you're better off using a proper media server. The good news is that buying hardware for one doesn't preclude the other. If you buy a small PC for Kodi today, it will likely be a great candidate for Jellyfin if your needs grow in the future. You would only need to change the software you're using; your library can stay exactly as it is.