Jellyfin does the same basic job as Plex — turning a personal collection of movies, shows, and music into a proper streaming-app interface — but it’s completely free and open-source, with no premium tier gating features like hardware-accelerated transcoding.

Who Can Use Jellyfin?

Jellyfin is for anyone who wants full control over their media server without a subscription, whether that’s out of a preference for open-source software or just not wanting to pay for features that used to be free elsewhere. Like Plex, it works best paired with a computer or NAS on your network running the free Jellyfin Server software.

Jellyfin on Firestick

1. From the Fire TV home screen, go to Find → Search and type “Jellyfin.”

2. Select the Jellyfin app and choose Get to install it.

3. Open the app and enter your Jellyfin server’s address, or let it auto-discover a server on your local network.

4. Sign in with the username and password you set up on your Jellyfin server.

5. Browse your library and select a title to start streaming.

Jellyfin illustrative install mockup
Searching for Jellyfin from the Fire TV home screen.

Install Jellyfin on Android TV Devices

1. Open the Google Play Store on your Android TV device.

2. Search “Jellyfin” and install the official app.

3. Enter your server address or use auto-discovery to find it on your network.

4. Sign in and start browsing your library.

Key Features

— Completely free and open-source, with no premium subscription tier.

— Hardware-accelerated transcoding included at no extra cost.

— A growing plugin ecosystem maintained by the open-source community.

— Self-hosted, so your library and viewing data stay on your own server.

If the idea of a personal streaming server appeals to you but the subscription add-ons for Plex don’t, Jellyfin gets you most of the same experience without ever asking for a credit card.