Robert - Plex Server

OS

Unraid

Pros	Cons
Relatively easy to use/maintain	Cost (base $49 to $250 for lifetime updates)
Flexible storage options (Array/Pool options that are separate)	Finicky OS
Can have Media Server app setup within a few clicks	Not personally stable
Incredible community app support (uses Docker and Docker Hub for templates)	Slow storage if using array (uses a proprietary RAID system that does not favor performance)
Native community plugin support	Has issues sometimes with updates
Incredible community documentation (SpaceInvader One and Ibracorp)	Network config can be frustrating/unstable
Requires USB Flash drive for installation and license management	Slow development cycles (bugs don't get fixed often or at all)
Can virtualize VMs	Official documentation lacking
Can utilize self network shares	Backups not easy to setup
	Network shares buggy/unstable
	Permissions with shares are difficult to navigate
	Relatively easy to lose data when rearranging drives in array
	Requires at least one drive setup in the array even if using only pools (can setup a usbUSB drive to be used here)
	Troubleshooting difficult with base setup since logs are deleted upon reboot

https://www.youtube.com/@SpaceinvaderOne

https://www.youtube.com/@IBRACORP

 

TrueNas Scale

Pros	Cons
Depending on what you want, can range from very easy to setup, to extremely complicated	App support has recently changed to Docker and may/may not be 100% stable
Cost (free) - Open Source	App setup on the more complicated end
The fastest OS in these options	Eats RAM (uses all available RAM as a cache for storage)
Allows for mirroring OS storage to ensure if a drive fails you can replace it before needing to recover from backup	Can be complicated to matainmaintain especially if something goes wrong (not everything has GUI support). YOU WILL LEARN ZFS COMMANDS
Uses one of the fastest storage filesystems available	Storage filesystem is not flexible in terms of expansion
Focused on being a storage solution first and has an incredible amount of options for that including network shares	ONLY has the ability to use ZFS as a filesystem
Most stable file system
Troubleshooting easy with most logs persisting after reboot
Can virtualize VMs
Backups easy to setup
Incredible community documentation
Incredible official documentation
VERY stable OS

https://www.youtube.com/@LAWRENCESYSTEMS

 

CasaOS

Pros Cons Cost (free) - Open Source Setup from an existing Ubuntu/Debian OS App setup seems very easy but full featured

Not a large amount of options for storage

Simple interface

May require Debian based Linux knowledge for support

Media Applications

Plex

Pros Cons Simplest network management (they have their own servers to broker external connections through to the hosted media server) Cost ($5/mo for Plex Pass or $120 for lifetime) Most management of libraries is set it and forget it (with proper media names)

Hardware acceleration for transcoding requires Plex Pass

IMO the most user friendly interface

Requires port forwarding on router to access externally (CGNAT becomes a major issue if ISP is using it)

Usable on a wider variety of players and media devices

Database management is a PITA, requires SQL knowledge to manage

Netflix like "Skip Intro" and "Skip Credits"

Database requires fast/stable storage (recommend to use some filesystem that protects against bit rot like BTRFS/ZFS and to utilize mirrored drives for redundancy/backups)

Mobile apps cost $5/ea per app store, per account (Google vs Apple)

 

Jellyfin

Pros Cons Cost (free) - Open Source Complex networking setup for external access Management of libraries is relatively easy like Plex but not necessarily as set and forget

Requires specific domain/external IP address shared to users to access externally

Alright interface

Requires port forwarding on router to access externally (CGNAT becomes a major issue if ISP is using it)

Hardware acceleration for transcoding does not require paid service

Offline media free to download

CasaOS 

Ubuntu/Debian Backend w/ Alternate Backend

 

Media Applications

Plex

 

Jellyfin

Emby

Pros Cons Management of libraries is relatively easy like Plex but not necessarily as set and forget Cost ($5/mo for Emby Premiere or $120 for lifetime) Alright interface Complex networking setup for external access Offline media requires Emby Premiere to download

Requires specific domain/external IP address shared to users to access externally

Netflix like "Skip Intro" and "Skip Credits"

Requires port forwarding on router to access externally (CGNAT becomes a major issue if ISP is using it)

Hardware acceleration for transcoding requires Emby Premiere