Streaming services were a technological marvel. The ability to sift through millions of movies, music tracks, and shows to find new content at a reasonable monthly cost. That was all well and good in 2009 when there were barely any streaming services to begin with and Spotify was starting with a free tier in the UK. The issue with today's collection of streaming services is cost. Cable was effectively replaced by streaming services — though it still manages to pull in some numbers — and these new technology brands effectively morphed into the very thing they were replacing.

You're not only required to create multiple accounts and subscriptions, but there's the risk of content being removed, which is where self-hosting comes to the rescue. I've replaced all my selected streaming subscriptions with a single media app on a NAS, and it has already saved me a small fortune each month. The app is called Jellyfin, and it quickly became one of my favorite self-hosted Docker containers in my home lab.

How Jellyfin changes the game (again)

Cut the costs and own your media

I don't like not owning stuff. We have an expansive vinyl collection for enjoying music, primarily purchase movies and shows when available, and support favorite artists through acquiring albums. I recently attended a gig where Dayseeker played in Birmingham and walked away with a signed vinyl — not only does this support the artists, it also allows me to keep a local copy of the media in physical and digital formats. Jellyfin can then take the digital files, catalog, and stream them to any device of my choosing.

Previously, I would have to switch between some local files and anything else we felt like watching from one of the numerous streaming services. Now, we can fire up Jellyfin and stream music, shows, and movies all through the same interface. Although one could argue the cost of purchasing individual media will be higher than paying for a monthly streaming subscription, I'd counter it with you're not obliged to purchase new media monthly. Even if you don't buy anything new, the rest of your collection remains available.

Streaming subscriptions require monthly or annual payments to keep them active. Failure to renew will cut access to the catalog of media. Running Jellyfin is also easy. All that's required is a system capable of handling the Docker container. This can be a PC, single-board computer (SBC), network-attached storage (NAS), or even a home lab server. You've likely heard of Plex as it's the more popular (and marketed) self-hosted streaming solution, but Jellyfin is right up there with the best and has no intrusive features or payment model.

An official app is available for most platforms, though the web interface is a reliable backup. The best part about being open-source and freely available is the support for third-party apps and extensions. For me, I use the official Jellyfin app on my Android smartphone for streaming movies and shows, whereas Symfonium handles music with full support for Android Auto. Official Jellyfin apps are also present on the Amazon Fire app store, so the big screen and various rooms are covered with on-demand content.

How much I've saved with Jellyfin

It's a long-term investment

Like the stock market, it doesn't matter how you time the switch to Jellyfin — It's all about how long you've been using the service. The longer the better, as these savings only increase over time. The purchase of hardware will drive up the initial cost of hosting and streaming media, not to mention the acquisition of files from various legal destinations, but once you're up and running with a healthy library, you'll start to save each month versus media streaming services. If you have Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV, and Paramount+, that works out to around $36 per month.

Just north of $400 per year could fund the cost of purchasing NAS hardware. A second year would populate your NAS with countless movies, shows, and music tracks. The best part? They will always be available for streaming, no matter where you are or what device you're using. It's not just great for streaming media. Here are some reasons why you should consider Jellyfin over alternatives (as well as your streaming subscriptions):

• Self-hosted and managed by you.
• Completely free with no ads or intrusive features.
• Doesn't require external connections for accounts.
• Full support for extensions (plugins).
• Robust user management.
• Streamlined UI for easy cross-platform navigation.

Ready to take back ownership of your media? Give Jellyfin a go on the device of your choosing. Even a small compact PC will run Jellyfin without much trouble, especially if everything is saved in formats supported by all your clients.