Alternatives / Amazon Prime
Looking for an open source Amazon Prime alternative? We compared 2 open source media solutions based on their use case, license, self-hosting capabilities, and pricing.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Jellyfin | Self-hosted media streaming | GPL-2.0 |
| Kodi | Home theater & media center | GPL-2.0-or-later |
We focused on projects that are genuinely open source and provide functionality overlapping with Amazon Prime's video, music, and personal media experience. Amazon Prime itself is a broad subscription service covering shipping, video, music, Prime Reading, and Prime Gaming, so the alternatives listed here primarily address the media and streaming portion of the service. They fall mainly in the media server and media center categories. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Neither project is a full replacement for Amazon Prime. Shipping benefits, Prime Reading, Prime Gaming, and a licensed video catalog have no open-source equivalent. Jellyfin and Kodi replace the media and streaming portion only, and work with media you already own or have access to.
Jellyfin is a client-server media server: install it once, then stream your library to phones, TVs, computers, and browsers. Kodi primarily runs as the media-center application itself on the playback device, with a strong living-room interface, skins, and add-ons, and it can also use multiple media backends.
Amazon Prime combines several services into a single subscription, including video and music streaming. Open-source alternatives take a different approach: instead of replacing the entire Amazon ecosystem, they give users control over their own media library and streaming infrastructure.
| Alternative | Best for | License | Self-hosted | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jellyfin | Media server & streaming | GPL-2.0 | Yes | Free |
| Kodi | Home theater & media center | GPL-2.0-or-later | Yes | Free |
Want to replace the streaming aspect of Amazon Prime
Jellyfin is a self-hosted media server for movies, TV shows, music, photos, and books, with clients across a wide range of devices and no subscription.
Want an open-source home theater and media center
Kodi provides a unified, TV-friendly interface for movies, TV shows, music, photos, and games, extended through a large add-on ecosystem.
Want Live TV and DVR
Jellyfin supports Live TV and DVR alongside its personal media library; Kodi also supports Live TV and PVR through backends.