Stash vs Jellyfin: A Beginner's Guide to Choosing the Right Self-Hosted Media Tool
If you're new to self-hosting media, Stash vs Jellyfin can look confusing at first. They're both self-hosted, both open source, and both deal with video libraries — but they're built for very different jobs.
This guide is written for beginners who want to understand the difference, not just skim a feature checklist.
What Jellyfin Is (and What It's Best At)
Jellyfin is a general-purpose media server.
Its core job is simple:
Take your media files and stream them smoothly to TVs, phones, tablets, and browsers.
Jellyfin shines when:
- You want a Netflix-like experience on your own hardware
- You watch content on multiple devices
- You care about playback quality, transcoding, and client apps
- You want something that mostly "just works" once set up
Think of Jellyfin as a playback system first, with library organisation as a supporting feature.
What Stash Is (and What It's Best At)
Stash is not a traditional media server.
Its core job is different:
Build a structured, searchable database around your collection.
Stash is designed around:
- Tags, performers, studios, scenes
- Scrapers and metadata sources
- Manual verification and curation
- Power-user workflows
Stash can play media, but playback isn't the point. The point is control and organisation.
Think of Stash as a database and cataloguing tool first, with playback as a convenience.
The Mistake Beginners Most Commonly Make
The biggest mistake is assuming these tools do the same thing.
They don't.
- Beginners choose Jellyfin expecting deep tagging and database-style organisation
- Beginners choose Stash expecting a polished living-room media experience
Both expectations lead to frustration.
How to Decide: A Simple Step-by-Step Approach
Step 1: Ask What You're Optimising For
Ask yourself one honest question:
Do I care more about watching or organising?
- Mostly watching → Jellyfin
- Mostly organising → Stash
That answer alone solves 80% of the decision.
Step 2: Look at Your Devices
- TVs, Apple TV, Fire Stick, mobile apps → Jellyfin
- Desktop browser, keyboard, mouse → either (but Stash fits curation better)
Jellyfin's ecosystem exists to support clients. Stash assumes you're sitting at a browser, managing data.
Step 3: Be Honest About Setup Tolerance
- Want minimal friction → Jellyfin
- Enjoy metadata, cleanup, verification → Stash
Stash rewards effort. Jellyfin hides complexity.
Step 4: Trial Them Properly (Not for 5 Minutes)
Do this instead of guessing:
- Jellyfin: test playback on your main device and your worst-case file
- Stash: scan a small folder and try tagging, scraping, correcting matches
You'll feel which one fits you very quickly.
Practical Rules of Thumb
Use these if you want a fast answer:
- Watching on TVs? → Jellyfin
- Heavy tagging and metadata? → Stash
- Remote streaming or mixed devices? → Jellyfin
- Care about performers, studios, categories? → Stash
- Hate manual cleanup? → Jellyfin
- Enjoy curating a collection? → Stash
If you're torn, many people eventually run both, each for what it's good at.
Looking for more depth? Our Stash vs Plex comparison covers remote streaming, transcoding, and power-user workflows in more detail.
What Most Comparisons Get Wrong
Most articles frame this as "which media server is better".
That's the wrong question.
The real comparison is:
- Jellyfin optimises for playback
- Stash optimises for structure
Once you understand that, the choice becomes obvious.
Final Takeaway
If you're a beginner trying to learn:
- Start with Jellyfin if your goal is watching content easily
- Start with Stash if your goal is building a richly organised library
Neither tool is "better" — they're solving different problems.
Choose the one that matches how you actually want to use your media, not how you think you should.
Need help getting started with Stash? Join our waitlist and let us handle the technical setup while you focus on your collection.