Jellyfin vs MinIO
Detailed comparison to help you choose the right tool for your needs
J
Jellyfin
Free open-source media streaming server
4.3
Editorial RatingQuick Comparison
Rating
4.3
vs4.4
Starting Price
Free
vsFree
Pricing Model
free
vsfreemium
Feature
Jellyfin
MinIO
Hardware transcoding
Smart TV apps (Samsung/LG)
Live TV & DVR
Multi-user with parental controls
Subtitle management
No cloud account required
S3 API compatible
Distributed mode
Encryption at rest
Bucket versioning
Erasure coding
Kubernetes native
Jellyfin Pros
- Completely free — every feature included
- No cloud account or internet required
- Hardware transcoding (Intel/NVIDIA)
- Samsung & LG smart TV apps (2026)
- Uses 35% less RAM than Plex
- Active volunteer-driven development
Jellyfin Cons
- UI less polished than Plex
- Chromecast support has issues
- Smart TV apps are newer/less mature
- SQLite limits with very large libraries
- No centralized cloud sync
- Client app quality varies by platform
MinIO Pros
- Full S3 compatibility
- Excellent performance
- Easy Kubernetes deployment
- Active open-source community
- Strong encryption
- Scales to exabytes
MinIO Cons
- Enterprise support expensive
- Learning curve for distributed setup
- Documentation could be better
- No built-in CDN
- Requires infrastructure knowledge
- AGPLv3 license restrictive for some