Best Self-Hosted Media Servers in 2026

Software for hosting, streaming, and managing personal media libraries including movies, TV shows, music, and photos.

The top-rated pick is Jellyfin with 50,543 GitHub stars.

2 self-hosted media servers — ranked by GitHub stars. Browse all

Jellyfin

Free and open-source media server for movies, TV shows, music, and photos — a fully self-hosted alternative to Plex.

Alternative to:

Plex

Hound

A self-hosted media server for watching, tracking, and managing movies and TV shows with P2P streaming support.

Alternative to:

Plex

Why self-host?

Self-hosting puts you in control. You own your data, avoid vendor lock-in, and eliminate recurring subscription costs. For teams handling sensitive data or operating under strict compliance requirements, running your own infrastructure is often the only viable option.

Want to compare all open source options including cloud-hosted ones? See the best open source media servers →