Entertainment · alternatives
Alternatives to Emby
20 entertainment tools sit alongside Emby in this directory. Below is what separates each from Emby on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 20
- With a free tier
- 11
- Cheaper to start
- 2
- Emby starts at
- Free, then $4.99/month
Why people look past Emby
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. Emby has a free tier, and starts at $4.99/month against a category median of $11.99/month. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
The best podcast app for iPhone
- Starts $4.959999999999999 a year dearer, at $9.95/year.
Podcast & radio app for everyone
Priced and rated the same as Emby on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Original stories from the most creative minds
- Starts $8 a month dearer, at $12.99/month.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
Podcast app with episode inbox
- Starts $20 a year dearer, at $24.99/year.
Ticket resale marketplace charging both buyers and sellers, with combined fees often a large share of face value
- Sold on a Free to browse, two sided transaction fees on buyers and sellers model rather than freemium.
Free ad-supported streaming from Roku, with an optional paid live TV add-on layer
- Sold on a Free, ad-supported; individual paid channel add-ons model rather than freemium.
Every Emby alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emby (this page) | Free, then $4.99/month | Freemium | 2 | |
| OvercastThe best podcast app for iPhone | Free, then $9.95/year | - | 2 | vs Emby |
| CastboxPodcast & radio app for everyone | Free | - | 2 | vs Emby |
| Apple TV+Original stories from the most creative minds | Free, then $12.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Emby |
| CastroPodcast app with episode inbox | Free, then $24.99/year | - | 2 | vs Emby |
| StubHub | Free | Free to browse, two sided transaction fees on buyers and sellers | 2 | vs Emby |
| The Roku Channel | Free | Free, ad-supported; individual paid channel add-ons | 2 | vs Emby |
| mpv | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Emby |
| Infuse | Free, then $1.99/month | Per user per month | 3 | vs Emby |
| IINA | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Emby |
| Crunchyroll | Free, then $7.99/month | Freemium | 3 | vs Emby |
| Dailymotion | Free | Free | 1 | vs Emby |
| Philo | $33/month | Per household per month, single plan | 1 | vs Emby |
| fuboTV | $73.99/month | Per household per month, tiered plans | 3 | vs Emby |
| DirecTV Stream | $89.99/month | Per household per month, tiered plans | 3 | vs Emby |
| Disney+ | $7.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Emby |
| ESPN+ | $10.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Emby |
| Discovery+ | $4.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Emby |
| Final Cut Pro | $12.99/month | - | 3 | vs Emby |
| Adobe Premiere Pro | $22.99/month | - | 4 | vs Emby |
| Apple Music | $10.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Emby |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Emby badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (11)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
Cheaper than Emby (2)
Entry price under Emby's $4.99/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Infuse , Free, then $1.99/month
- Dailymotion , Free
What you would be giving up
Emby is most often brought in for running a personal media server for films, television and music, streaming a home library to phones, tablets and televisions. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Emby is broadly right and the question is cost, the Emby pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Entertainment category lists everything the directory holds, and best entertainment tools ranks them.
Emby runs on web, ios, android, smart-tv, desktop. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Emby alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Emby?
- 20 other entertainment tools are listed in this directory, led by Overcast, Castbox, Apple TV+, Castro. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Emby?
- 11 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Overcast, Castbox, Apple TV+, Castro, StubHub.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Emby?
- Yes. 2 of the alternatives below start under Emby's $4.99/month: Infuse at Free, then $1.99/month, Dailymotion at Free.
- Is there a reason to switch away from Emby?
- Nothing in the data flags one. Emby has a free tier, and starts at $4.99/month against a category median of $11.99/month. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from Emby?
- Emby is most often brought in for running a personal media server for films, television and music, streaming a home library to phones, tablets and televisions. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Emby?
- None of the entertainment tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Emby alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Entertainment, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Emby against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Emby covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every entertainment tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Entertainment category, 20 tools beside Emby. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.