Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Plex VS Navidrome

Compare Plex VS Navidrome and see what are their differences

Plex logo Plex

Free movies and TV plus all your personal media libraries on every device. Master your Mediaverse.

Navidrome logo Navidrome

Music Server and Streamer compatible with Subsonic/Airsonic.
  • Plex Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-22
  • Navidrome Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-08-16

Plex features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Plex offers a clean and intuitive interface that is easy to navigate, even for those who are not tech-savvy.
  • Centralized Media Library
    Plex allows you to centralize your media in one place, making it easy to manage and access your videos, music, and photos from a single platform.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Plex supports a wide range of devices including PCs, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and streaming devices, providing flexibility in accessing your media.
  • Remote Access
    Plex lets you access your media library from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection, making it convenient for users who travel frequently.
  • Live TV and DVR
    Plex offers live TV and DVR functionality, allowing users to watch and record live television shows through the platform.
  • Media Enhancement
    Plex automatically enhances your media by adding metadata like posters, descriptions, and ratings, providing a richer media experience.
  • Plex Pass Features
    Plex Pass offers premium features like offline access, early access to new features, and various premium plugins, enhancing the overall experience.

Possible disadvantages of Plex

  • Subscription Costs
    While Plex offers a free tier, many of its advanced features require a Plex Pass subscription, which can be expensive over time.
  • Complex Setup
    Setting up Plex can be somewhat complex and time-consuming, especially for users who want to host their own media server.
  • Streaming Quality
    The streaming quality may vary depending on the user's internet connection and the quality of the source media, which may not always meet expectations.
  • Limited Free Features
    Some of the most appealing features of Plex, such as offline access and advanced metadata, are locked behind the Plex Pass paywall.
  • Server Requirements
    Running a Plex server requires a fairly powerful machine, especially if you want to stream high-definition content or have multiple users accessing simultaneously.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Some users have raised concerns about Plex's data collection practices and how their personal viewing habits and data might be used.

Navidrome features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Navidrome is a lightweight music server, meaning it requires minimal resources to run, making it ideal for deployment on low-power devices or servers with limited capacity.
  • Cross-platform Compatibility
    It can be run on multiple operating systems such as Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing users with flexibility in choosing their platform.
  • User-friendly Interface
    Navidrome has a simple and intuitive web interface allowing users to easily navigate and manage their music libraries.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, Navidrome allows developers to contribute to the project, customize it, and ensure transparency of the software’s functionalities.
  • Frequent Updates
    The software is frequently updated, ensuring users have access to the latest features and security enhancements.

Possible disadvantages of Navidrome

  • Limited Advanced Features
    Compared to some commercial counterparts, Navidrome may lack certain advanced features such as audio analysis and recommendation algorithms.
  • Community-based Support
    While Navidrome has a supportive community, the support is community-based, which may not be as immediate or comprehensive as professional customer support.
  • Self-hosting Complexity
    Users need to set up their own server to host Navidrome, which might be complex for individuals without technical or server management skills.
  • No Official Mobile Apps
    Navidrome doesn't have official mobile applications, limiting users to third-party apps or web-based access for mobile use.

Plex videos

PLEX Media Server Review - What is Plex?

More videos:

  • Review - Free Movies And TV With Plex Review 2020
  • Demo - Plex Review - 🚫WAIT🚫DON'T BUY WITHOUT WATCHING THIS DEMO FIRST🔥

Navidrome videos

Installing Navidrome using Docker (in French)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Plex and Navidrome)
Video & Movies
100 100%
0% 0
Media Players And Streaming Platforms
Media Player
78 78%
22% 22
Audio & Music
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Plex and Navidrome

Plex Reviews

10 Best Kodi Alternatives You Should Use (2023)
Plex is one of the most competitive alternatives to Kodi. With almost the same features, plex is a considerable media player. It is better than Kodi in some ways, like it works on the server-client model. The interface is more robust and better than Kodi. But many features can only be accessed in the premium model.
Source: techdator.net
Reelgood vs. JustWatch vs. Plex: Battle of the streaming guides
Linking from Plex to other apps is also inconsistent across platforms. It doesn’t work at all on Fire TV (even though it did at launch), and I had trouble linking out from Peacock and Paramount+ on a Chromecast with Google TV. Plex’s Apple TV app fared better overall, but linking to Paramount+ content still didn’t work.
Top 10 Best Linux Media Server Software
Unlike Kodi, Plex is not open-source. It does offer a free account for its users. But it also offers premium pricing plans that allow you to unlock more features and have greater control over your media, while also being able to get detailed insights into who’s using Plex and what they’re using it for.
Source: itsfoss.com

Navidrome Reviews

35 Open-source Free Music and Audio Streaming Servers (Self-hosted)
Navidrome is an open source web-based music collection server and streamer. It gives you freedom to listen to your music collection from any browser or mobile device. It's like your personal Spotify!
Source: medevel.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Plex seems to be a lot more popular than Navidrome. While we know about 653 links to Plex, we've tracked only 4 mentions of Navidrome. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Plex mentions (653)

  • Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (June 2025)
    Location: Connecticut (CT), Hartford Area Willing to relocate: Yes Technologies: React, Typescript/Javascript, Next.js, Tailwind, NestJS, Node.js, Express, MongoDB, Prisma, Jest, Playwright, Docker, Linux, Bash, MUI, HTML, CSS, Git, ... (see resume for more) Résumé: https://christophergeiger.dev/resume.pdf Email: christophergeiger.dev@gmail.com https://christophergeiger.dev https://github.com/christophergeiger3 ),... - Source: Hacker News / 3 days ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (April 2025)
    Location: Hartford, CT, USA Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: Yes Technologies: React, Typescript/Javascript, Next.js, NestJS, Node.js,Express, MongoDB, Prisma, Jest, Playwright, Docker, Linux, Bash, HTML, CSS, Git Résumé/CV: https://www.christophergeiger.xyz/resume.pdf Email: christophergeiger.dev@gmail.com Website: https://christophergeiger.xyz Hello, I'm a fullstack engineer who specializes in building intuitive... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (March 2025)
    Https://plex.tv Currently I'm seeking a frontend or full-stack role as either a mid-level or senior developer. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Setting Up The Home Lab: Terraform and Cloud-Init
    You might notice that the Terraform template definition is pretty close in structure to the one I used in my last article. That's intentional - I set up the last one with cloud-init, but didn't do much with it. This one actually provisions the VM with cloud-init. You can also use Ansible playbooks to provision a VM, and I might talk about that in a future post, but in my next post I'm going to talk about doing... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Apple Buys DarwinAI Ahead of Major Generative AI Updates Coming in iOS 18
    It's not for everyone but I've never been happier with OpenAudible [0] + Plex [1] + Prologue [2] [0] https://openaudible.org/ [1] https://plex.tv/ [2] https://prologue.audio/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
View more

Navidrome mentions (4)

  • anyway to get entire music library on my phone?
    I would say go with Navidrome and the substreamer app (for Android). I am using Navidrome for a year now with approximately +25 GBs music collection, and it has been a pleasant experience to set up and get used to. Here's the link for Navidrome GitHub: https://github.com/navidrome/navidrome and also the official website: https://navidrome.org. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Specification for smart playlist JSON format?
    I went looking on navidrome.org and through here, but I couldn't find such a document. Have I overlooked somewhere obvious? Source: over 2 years ago
  • Using Navidrome on a RPI3 to host my music collection for DJing so I can listen between sets
    Navidrome (free open source software from https://navidrome.org) is running on the Raspberry Pi 3 which is under my desk via a wired connection with it's own 'http://navidrome.local' custom domain name. This is what it looks like:. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Is Spotify safe to use? If No then what can I do?
    Navidrome - Lightweight, fast and self-contained personal music streamer. Source: about 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Plex and Navidrome, you can also consider the following products

Jellyfin - Jellyfin is a personal media server.

Airsonic - Airsonic is a Free and Open Source community driven media server which allows you to stream...

Stremio - Watch videos, movies, TV series and TV channels instantly.

Ampache - Web ( HTTP centralized ) based audio/video streaming application

Kodi - Kodi is an award winning free and open source media player that got its start on the Xbox console.

Subsonic - Subsonic is a free, web-based media streamer, providing ubiquitous access to your music and video.