Kinora vs Jellyfin, Plex and Emby
Kinora is a young project. It’s built to be small and fast, and it already covers the basics most people use a media server for. It doesn’t do everything the big three do yet, and this page says so.
Last checked: November 2026. Other projects change, so check their sites for the latest.
At a glance
Section titled “At a glance”| Kinora | Jellyfin | Plex | Emby | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free | Free tier, paid Plex Pass | Free tier, paid Emby Premiere |
| Source code | Open (GPL-2.0) | Open (GPL-2.0) | Closed | Closed |
| Hardware transcoding | Free | Free | Needs Plex Pass | Needs Emby Premiere |
| Account needed | Local accounts only | Local accounts only | Plex account | Local, Emby Connect optional |
| Written in | Rust (one binary) | C# / .NET | Closed | C# / .NET |
| Database | SQLite | SQLite | SQLite | SQLite |
| Movies and TV | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Music, audiobooks, photos | Not yet | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Live TV / DVR | Not yet | Yes | Yes (paid) | Yes (paid) |
| Apps | Web, Android TV | Many | Many | Many |
| Plugins | Built-in modules | Yes | Limited | Yes |
Where Kinora is strong
Section titled “Where Kinora is strong”- Light on resources. One Rust binary with the web app built in. No .NET runtime, no separate database server.
- Every feature is free. GPU transcoding, HDR tone mapping and remote access don’t sit behind a subscription.
- No cloud account. Your server, your users. Nothing phones home.
- Careful GPU handling. Kinora runs a real test encode on each GPU backend at startup instead of trusting a checkbox, and falls back to the CPU when one fails.
- Dolby Vision. Profile 8.1 plays as HDR10 without a transcode, and tone mapping understands Dolby Vision.
- Remembers your tracks. Pick Japanese audio and English subtitles once, and every episode of that show starts that way.
Where the others are ahead (for now)
Section titled “Where the others are ahead (for now)”- More media types. Music, audiobooks, photos, live TV and DVR.
- More apps. Smart TVs, consoles, iOS, Apple TV, Roku and more. Kinora has the web app and Android TV today.
- Ecosystems. Years of plugins, guides and community answers.
Which should you pick?
Section titled “Which should you pick?”- Pick Kinora if you mainly watch movies and TV, want something light on a NAS or Unraid box, and want GPU transcoding without a subscription.
- Pick Jellyfin if you want a free, open-source server with music, live TV and lots of client apps today.
- Pick Plex if you want the most polished apps on every device and don’t mind an account and a subscription for some features.
- Pick Emby if you like Jellyfin’s style but want a commercially supported product.
Trying Kinora costs nothing: it runs next to your current server and reads the same folders. Install it with Docker.