Plex has been around since 2008, forking from a macOS XBMC port, which is, of course, today's Kodi. I haven't been on the Plex train since day one, but it has been over a decade at this point, and it was my first go at self-hosting streaming media in my home.
I've seen my colleagues split off and opt for Emby, Jellyfin, and the aforementioned Kodi, but I still haven't felt the urge to leave Plex behind, despite some questionable decisions by the powers that be at Plex. Maybe it's because Plex hasn't annoyed me enough to make the effort, but I actually think there are a few things keeping me on the Plex side of the fence.
Plex is still the easiest way to build a personal streaming service
It feels like an old glove
I've watched the installation process for the alternatives and the setup procedure to get your media library ready to stream, and it seems more involved than Plex for no real reason. I am, of course, biased, because I've already set up my media library, and at this point I'm just adding or removing a show or movie here and there. If my little mini PC Plex server had a drive failure tomorrow and I was starting from zero anyway, maybe I'd be happier to experiment.
However, even without taking that into account, it's tough to deny that Plex has the most polished interface. It's easy to forget that when I open Plex on my Apple TV, I'm accessing a media library that I'm hosting myself and not a commercial service like Netflix or Disney Plus. For the most part, it looks and feels like the big boys and not the scrappy open-source underdogs.
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