Audiobookshelf vs Plex
Audiobookshelf and Plex are both media server software. Audiobookshelf is open source under GPL-3.0, with 15k GitHub stars. Plex is a commercial product from Plex, Inc.
Which to pick
- Pick Audiobookshelf when
- You own audiobook files or follow podcasts and want them streamed to your phone with synced progress.
- Pick Plex when
- You have a home media library and want polished apps on every device with little setup.
Side by side
A self-hosted audiobook and podcast server with progress sync, metadata matching and mobile apps.
A media server that organises your own films, TV, music and photos and streams them to apps on TVs, phones and browsers, plus free ad-supported streaming.
Mobile apps are still in beta, and much of it rests on one lead developer.
Remote streaming and some features now need a paid pass, and sign-in goes through Plex's cloud even for local use.
Production-ready (both)
Self-hosted server and mobile app
Self-hosted server, mobile app, desktop app and cloud service
JavaScript, Node.js, Vue and SQLite
Not published
Open source, GPL-3.0 (strong copyleft)
Closed source, sold by Plex, Inc.
Use inside your business is unrestricted, but anything you distribute that includes it must be released under the same license.
Closed source: you use it under the maker's terms and cannot change or resell the code.
15k GitHub stars
3.5k Wikipedia readers a month on phones
Established: started 5 years ago, latest release v2.37.2.
Not known
Other comparisons
More media servers
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from makers' descriptions, Wikipedia, READMEs and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.