Netflix streams a licensed catalog of films and series from its own servers; none of these apps can give you that catalog. What they do instead is turn the movies and shows you already own, ripped or downloaded, into something you can watch on a TV, a phone or a browser, from a server you run.
What these apps are for
Self-hosting a streaming app only makes sense once you have media to put on it: a collection of ripped discs, downloaded files or home recordings. The app then organizes that library, fetches cover art and descriptions, and serves it to whatever device you are watching on. It is a personal library, not a store with new releases.
The open-source options at a glance
| App | Closest to | License | Stars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jellyfin | A full media server: movies, music, live TV, books | GPL-2.0 | about 58,200 |
| Kyoo | A smaller, movies-and-anime-focused server | GPL-3.0 | about 2,500 |
| Kodi | A player, not a server: plays what you point it at | GPL-2.0 | about 21,300 |
Jellyfin
Jellyfin is the biggest project in this space and the closest match to Netflix's shape: a server that organizes your movies and shows into a browsable library, with live TV and DVR, music, books, comics and photos on top. It is entirely volunteer-built and funded by donations, so there is no paid tier and no feature held back behind one. Clients exist for the web, Android, iOS, Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV and Kodi, which is enough to put it on almost any television already in a house. It is licensed under the GPL-2.0, and the latest release, v12.2 from 5 October 2026, keeps the project actively maintained.
Kyoo
Kyoo covers the same ground as Jellyfin for movies, series and anime, but stays smaller and more opinionated: it aims to scan a library correctly even when file names are messy, with no folder structure required. It adds dynamic transcoding with adaptive bitrate, automatic intro and credit detection by audio fingerprinting, and support for several subtitle formats. It deploys with Docker Compose or a Helm chart, and runs on the web, Android and Chromecast, with Android TV planned. It is largely the work of one developer, under the GPL-3.0 license, which is worth knowing before depending on it for anything critical.
Kodi
Kodi is not a server at all: it is a media player you install on the device you watch on, which then plays local files, network shares or internet streams directly, under the GPL-2.0. There is no central library that several people stream from the way Jellyfin or Kyoo provide one. That makes it the right choice for a single home theater PC or an old laptop plugged into a TV, and the wrong choice for a household that wants everyone on their own device watching from one shared collection. It also works well as a client pointed at a Jellyfin or Kyoo server, which is why both mention it as a supported platform.
Getting your media in
None of these apps come with content; you have to add your own files to a folder the app can see, then let it scan. Jellyfin and Kyoo both read metadata (titles, posters, descriptions) from the file names and folder structure, then pull covers and summaries from public databases online. Jellyfin expects a fairly standard naming pattern (Movie Name (Year), Show Name/Season 01/Show Name S01E01); Kyoo advertises looser matching and treats a file it cannot identify as a bug to report, which is the main reason people pick it over Jellyfin for a messier collection. Kodi, since it has no central library shared between viewers, scans whatever folder you point it at on the one device it runs on.
Live TV and DVR
Jellyfin is the only one of the three built for live TV and recording: point it at a TV tuner or an IPTV playlist, and it can show a live guide and record programs on a schedule, the way a DVR box would. Kyoo and Kodi do not have an equivalent feature; Kodi can play a live stream you give it, but it has no guide or scheduled recording of its own. If replacing a DVR alongside Netflix is the goal, Jellyfin is the only one of the three that does it.
Which to pick
A household that wants one shared library on every device, including live TV: Jellyfin. A smaller, movies-and-anime library where messy file names are a known problem: Kyoo, with the caveat that it leans on one maintainer. A single screen with local or network files and no need for a shared server: Kodi.
If you would rather not run a server yourself, a managed host takes care of that part. On blitz.cloud Ad, Jellyfin installs in one click from its App Store, hosted in the EU with HTTPS included. There is a free plan without a credit card, where apps sleep after 30 minutes without visitors; that is fine for watching something now and then, but a live TV recording scheduled for the middle of the night will not fire while the app is asleep.
New to running your own apps? Start with self-hosting for beginners. The full list of alternatives, including closed-source ones, lives under Netflix alternatives.
FAQ
Can I watch Netflix's own shows and films on these?
No. None of these apps give you Netflix's catalog or any licensed content. They stream media you already have; what you can watch depends entirely on what you put into the library yourself.
Do I need a powerful server to run one of these?
Jellyfin and Kyoo both transcode video on the fly for devices that cannot play the original file directly, which needs real CPU or GPU power if several people watch different things at once. For one or two viewers on devices that play the files natively, a small server is enough.
Can several people in my household watch different things at the same time?
Yes, with Jellyfin or Kyoo: both support multiple user accounts and simultaneous streams, limited by your server's hardware and your internet connection. Kodi has no concept of separate users or remote streams; it plays on the one device it is installed on.
Which one is easiest to set up for someone new to self-hosting?
Jellyfin, because of its size: more guides, more pre-built Docker images and a larger community to ask when something does not work.
Is this legal?
Running the server software is legal everywhere; what you are allowed to put into the library depends on where you live and where the files came from. Ripping discs you own is treated differently from country to country, and downloading copyrighted films from the internet is not made legal by streaming them from your own server afterward.
Do I still need Netflix for new releases?
Usually yes. These apps keep growing your own collection watchable in one place; they do not add new films or series the way a subscription service does. Most people who self-host a media server keep one or two subscriptions for new releases and use the server for everything they already own.