I use Plex. Every day lately, I’ve been wondering if I should stop.

The software, which lets you turn your personal collection of TV shows and movies into a Netflix-style streaming service, is super easy. But Plex is offered by a company that, as of late, has focused more on adding features than improving a cluttered user interface. Recently, it added a social platform and user reviews, two features I immediately disabled. I want to see things—not talk about it with strangers. (I have friends for that.) The company continues to make design choices that push its ad-supported streaming selections over the personal media collection and DVR functionality I use the service to enjoy.

This may make sense from a business perspective. But that doesn’t make sense for my personal use of Plex, which is watching live TV and TV shows that I’ve recorded and stored on my computer. I pay an annual subscription fee of $70 for it. I can avoid the annual subscription by buying a lifetime pass, but Plex only Price increased From $250 to $750. That’s more than a decade of annual passes, assuming Plex continues for the next decade.

All of that said, there are reasons to be disappointed with Plex. And that’s enough to see. GelifinA free and open source application that offers many of the features that make Plex so compelling. Is Gelfin a good alternative? It depends.

Solid basics, rocky remote access

If the most important thing you want to do is watch your digital collection of TV shows and movies at home, I have good news for you: Gelifin does a great job. You can download the server, point it at your media, and access that media on other devices on your network, all in minutes.

Scanning works well. In my case, some things were mislabeled, but I’ve run into similar problems setting up Plex and know I can fix it without too much hassle — it’s just a matter of naming the files correctly.

You can access your server on the local network by typing the local IP into your address bar, which is easy. And there are Gelfin Clients For every major desktop, mobile, and smart TV platform you can think of. Simply put, you can make native media streaming work very quickly. If that’s your primary use and you’re tired of Plex, I can confidently say that Gelifin is ready for you without any fuss.

But sometimes you’re not home. Shocking, I know. That’s one of the nice things about Plex. Relatively easy remote accesswhich allows you to view your media outside of your home network. With most modern routers, you won’t have to do much—the networking is taken care of. This is possible because Plex, the company, runs the infrastructure that points other devices to your home server.

Gelifin has no such infrastructure. If you want to access your Jellyfin server while away from home, you’ll need to set up the networking infrastructure yourself. This may mean paying for a domain name and having it sent to your server. This could mean setting up a VPN, or it could mean messing around with port forwarding. There are instructions.but they are very clearly for power users.

Basically, you have to tinker. Now, the kind of person who runs their own Plex server can probably navigate all of that. But if you share access to your Plex server with others, it will be difficult for them to set up and use Jellyfin.