Open-source alternatives to Netflix

2 genuinely open-source alternatives. The projects are compared by license, workflow, self-hosting, and pricing.

Why look for a Netflix alternative?

Netflix provides on-demand access to a licensed catalog through a proprietary subscription service. Open-source alternatives take a different approach: they help you organize and stream media you already own or have access to. You get more control over your library, metadata, users, playback, privacy, and hosting, but you do not get Netflix's licensed catalog.

Jellyfin

Fully open-source media server for your own library.

Jellyfin lets you organize and stream your own movies, TV shows, music, photos, and other media. Install the server on your own hardware and connect from mobile, desktop, smart TV, streaming-box, and web clients.

GPL-2.0Self-hosted

Pricing: Free and open source with no premium tier; you provide the media, server hardware, and any remote-hosting costs.

Fully self-hosted with no subscription or premium feature tier
Multi-user libraries, automatic metadata, artwork, and remote streaming
Clients for mobile, TV, desktop, and web, plus Live TV and DVR support
You must provide and manage your own media
Initial server setup and suitable remote-streaming bandwidth are required
Does not provide a licensed Netflix-style content catalog

View on GitHub

Kodi

Customizable open-source media center for TVs and home theaters.

Kodi is an open-source media center for movies, television shows, music, photos, live TV, and other media from local storage or network sources. It is primarily a playback application rather than a centralized media server.

GPL-2.0-or-later

Pricing: Free and open source; you provide the media sources and any hardware or backend used for playback.

Excellent TV interface with broad media-format support
Highly customizable with skins, add-ons, playback options, and PVR support
Available on many operating systems and well suited to home-theater devices
Primarily a client rather than a centralized media server
Multi-device syncing is less integrated than Jellyfin
Add-on quality varies and you still need your own media sources

View on GitHub

Compare Netflix alternatives

Tool	Stars	License	Self-hosted	Pricing
Jellyfin	—	GPL-2.0	Yes	Free and open source with no premium tier; you provide the media, server hardware, and any remote-hosting costs.
Kodi	—	GPL-2.0-or-later	No	Free and open source; you provide the media sources and any hardware or backend used for playback.

Which one should you choose?

Want your own self-hosted Netflix

Jellyfin provides a centralized library, user accounts, metadata, artwork, remote streaming, and clients for phones, TVs, computers, and browsers.

Jellyfin

Want a media center for your TV

Kodi is designed for a living-room setup with a strong TV interface, broad format support, skins, add-ons, and home-theater integrations.

Kodi

Want to stream the same library across many devices

Jellyfin's client-server architecture is the more natural fit for streaming your library across phones, TVs, computers, and web browsers.

Jellyfin

Want maximum home-theater customization

Kodi offers a mature ecosystem of skins, add-ons, playback options, and integrations for home-theater devices.

Kodi

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