Emby vs Jellyfin
Emby and Jellyfin are both media server software. Emby is a commercial product from Emby LLC. Jellyfin is open source under GPL-2.0, with 59k GitHub stars.
Which to pick
- Pick Emby when
- You want a self-hosted media server with less dependence on a vendor cloud than Plex, and live TV recording.
- Pick Jellyfin when
- You want Plex or Emby features without accounts, subscriptions or a vendor cloud.
Side by side
A personal media server that organises and streams your videos, music, photos and live TV to client apps, with a paid Premiere tier.
A free media server that organises and streams your movies, TV, music and photos to web, mobile and TV clients, with transcoding and live TV.
Key features need Emby Premiere, and the free open-source fork Jellyfin covers much of the same ground.
Client apps on some TV platforms are less polished than Plex's, and hardware transcoding needs setup.
Production-ready (both)
Self-hosted server, mobile app and desktop app
Self-hosted server
C# and .NET
C#, .NET and FFmpeg
Closed source, sold by Emby LLC
Open source, GPL-2.0 (strong copyleft)
Closed source: you use it under the maker's terms and cannot change or resell the code.
Use inside your business is unrestricted, but anything you distribute that includes it must be released under the same license.
522 Wikipedia readers a month on phones
59k GitHub stars
Not known
Established: started 8 years ago, latest release v12.4.
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.