Plex also automatically finds official cover art, ratings, actors, summaries, and other file details (which it pays to license) for all of your videos and music, so you don’t have to. It keeps your watch history synced across all of your devices, so you can start watching a movie on the couch and finish it while laying in bed. It also gives you the ability to open up your Plex library to other people (like your favorite coworker) no matter where they live. Plex supports a wide variety of file types, like JPG, MP4, and FLAC, and it can output in both 4K and HDR. And, if you set up correctly, you can even access it when you aren’t on the same network, which makes it great for using on road trips. Because of its server-and-client design, you can access your Plex library from pretty much any platform and device in your home. Plex’s Features PlexĪ Plex Media Server can store all of your movies, TV shows, photos, podcasts, news, and web shows, and it enables you to set up multiple profiles if you need. Every feature is always available to you, and you’re even free to hop in and add some of your own, since it’s open source. And because it’s free, you won’t ever have to worry about any of its functionality being locked behind a paywall.

Kodi, on the other hand, is a free local media player that runs on your computer, TV, mobile device, or streaming device.

There’s a $4.99 monthly plan, a $39.99 annual plan, and a $119.99 lifetime plan, and they all unlock an impressive array of features (which we’ll discuss below). Plex also has a premium subscription service, dubbed Plex Pass, as an optional upgrade.

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