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Tools to migrate from Plex to Jellyfin? (self.selfhosted)
submitted 1 week ago by MangoPenguin to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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Given the recent news about Plex soon charging for remote access, I wanted to finish up my switch to Jellyfin.

What tools/methods have you all used to migrate watch history to Jellyfin?

I have a few family members in there, and would like to get everything switched over without resetting their watch history.

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[-] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I used this: https://github.com/arabcoders/watchstate

It works, really, really well. You just connect it to the servers, and it syncs them by user. You can even let it run regularly while you are in your transition phase as a docker container right next to Plex and Jellyfin.

Mine's even a bit more advanced, as I used samba-domain to set up an LDAP active directory for my fam, then the above to sync the Plex users to those users in Jellyfin, and it still worked great.

Edit: The WebUI is also pretty intuitive, but I did have to run it twice for my user the first time for it to get 100% in sync. Everything was fine after that.

@BakedCatboy@lemmy.ml

[-] MangoPenguin 2 points 6 days ago

Thanks! Sounds like the best option

[-] HappyTimeHarry@lemm.ee 101 points 1 week ago

All the folks saying "just buy the lifetime pass" gonna be in for a big disappointment in about 5 years

[-] Eldritch@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago

Yep. Enshitification behavior doesn't cease once you're technically a paying customer. If they hadn't made a habit of enshitification. Clawing features away to put behind a paywall I'd give them some support. But I prefer foss anyhow. And for myself, I'm not missing anything.

[-] Obelix@feddit.org 10 points 1 week ago

And those lifetime subscriptions are also a trap. They know that you have the money and are willing to pay and that you're using their service. Do you really think that some business suit will be satisfied by your onetime payment back in 2022?

[-] WordBox@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

If we got 5yr it's more than paid for itself. Even FOSS needs support - stop whining and support good things.

[-] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

Thing is, Plex turns out to be less and less of a good thing with each passing day. Bloat, spying, removal of features, price hikes etc.

If you want to pay for software that is good, there’s always Emby.

[-] WordBox@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

Already paid for Plex and it works. Im not in favor of every change they've made, but it's still damn solid and takes money to run.

The point being these whiners aren't going to run off and support FOSS/alternatives... Just leech.

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[-] superglue@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago

Is there any evidence that Plex has been spying? Genuinely curious. Sure they are closed source so we cant prove they are not.

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[-] HappyTimeHarry@lemm.ee 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

PLEX is not FOSS, plex is a proprietary fork of XBMC.

My point is that in 5 years a lot of these plex users will wish they made the switch to jellyfin sooner.

[-] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 10 points 1 week ago

Or Plex currently does everything they need it to, and $120 for 5+ years of keeping that going without any interruption of service is very reasonable. In the meantime, jellyfin will only get better and there might even be other options available by then.

Stop trying to make the issue black and white, one-size-fits-all. There are perfectly legitimate reasons for people to use both Plex and Jellyfin.

[-] HappyTimeHarry@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago

Or sunk cost fallacy, but whatever helps you justify paying $120 for software i guess. I dont think its a black and White one size fits all thing, i just have seen this patter before with other software, and it was already happening with plex before the price increase.

[-] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 week ago

It's not sunk cost, dude. We agreed that $120 will get them 5 years of service that meets their needs. Even if they switch to jellyfin after 5 years, they still got their money's worth.

It's only sunk cost if they are worse off than if they had switched earlier. I guess if you're arguing that they would still have $120 if they switch today, I would argue they should still pay that $120 toward jellyfin's development. And that's assuming they have time to switch to jellyfin AND it fits 100% of their usecases, either of which could be untrue.

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[-] amorpheus@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

whatever helps you justify paying $120 for software

Does that sound like a lot to you?

Considering the use I got out of it, even if I switch to something else tomorrow, the cost for the lifetime pass was peanuts. I'm sure others making that decision based on the situation today will feel the same in a few years. If Plex seems like the best solution today it's not going to fall off the cliff before $120 were worth it.

Not like FOSS projects are immune to bad decisions, and then you either fork it yourself or depend on unpaid volunteers to keep the version you like alive. There's always some risk.

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[-] keyez@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I just upgraded to lifetime and also use jellyfin but right now it only does 80% of what Plex does in my workflow so gonna use it until I can't anymore.

[-] WordBox@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I know it's not FOSS. These whiners aren't going to support any project - FOSS or not- just whine.

If it takes 5 years to reach that conclusion... A) it's an easy switch, B) probably saved Jellyfin devs a bunch of moans, C) no regerts.

[-] MadBigote@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

I don't get the people down voting you... It's not like services are free. I've been paying for Plex since 2019, and I just recently got a lifetime pass. It's only fare to pay for it to use it ...

[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

Yes, do donate to FOSS projects. At least that money will go to people who do the actual work and not to pad corporate profits.

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[-] okamiueru@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

I got the lifetime pass 5 years ago. I've switched to JF because of the disappointment so far about a year ago.

JF is exactly what I wanted and needed plex to be, and everything added since is a worsened product. The lifetime pass was an attempt at getting the peace of mind of "then you just have it". If anything, only FOSS can give that.

[-] droolio@feddit.uk 8 points 1 week ago

Won't take that long before the enshittification is complete.

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[-] BakedCatboy@lemmy.ml 38 points 1 week ago

I think this is the tool you are looking for: https://github.com/luigi311/JellyPlex-Watched

I haven't used it myself but I plan on it eventually when I do make the switch.

[-] jaykob@feddit.org 3 points 1 week ago

I recently made the switch, worked pretty well :)

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[-] tron@midwest.social 32 points 1 week ago

I think you're looking for https://github.com/arabcoders/watchstate Watchstate will pull from Plex and migrate it into a Jellyfin instance. Emby is also supported. Works with multiple users as well, just do yourself a favor and make sure all usernames match up!!!

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I just used this to migrate from Emby to Jellyfin, works really well. I already have trakt setup on my main account but for my kid nothing goes out to the cloud so their account was all done with watchstate. It was also handy to keep Emby and Jellyfin in sync during the transition.

[-] MangoPenguin 2 points 1 week ago

Thanks this looks great!

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[-] Oderus@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

Just buy the lifetime Plex Pass before the price hike and you're golden.

[-] WordBox@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

BuT I wAnT mY fRrrreEeeeEEeeee

These whiny people should stay with Plex if only to save FOSS devs the headache of dealing with them. They aren't going to support them either.

(Thanks for helping clarify)

[-] MangoPenguin 3 points 1 week ago

I thought about it, but remote access is just something I use so rarely that it doesn't seem worth the cost to me.

Also I really distrust anything 'lifetime', historically those don't work out very well on most services.

[-] Celestus@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago

That would probably work, until Plex decides to introduce another subscription tier on top of the lifetime license, and/or demand more money from its paying users. I could totally see them doing that

[-] Ulrich@feddit.org 9 points 1 week ago

If someone wants my Lifetime Plex account they can have it.

[-] Celestus@lemm.ee 7 points 1 week ago

I’ll take it if you haven’t already given it away. This Plex change is not great for me, since I’m using remote access. I’ve got a Jellyfin server too, but I’m finding it less convenient for me, mostly for various nitpick reasons

[-] chonkyninja@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

You get it? I have one too, never going to use it again.

[-] VerseAndVermin@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Are you offering yours up? I would be very interested if you are.

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[-] darvocet@infosec.pub 3 points 1 week ago

oh no, this is the first im hearing about this.

[-] Unmapped@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

If you have Plex pass you dont have to worry about it. Others can still remote play from your server free. Actually more so because the mobile app is free for them too now.

[-] Cerothen@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 week ago

But if you don't already have lifetime and are paying monthly or annually then that price is also almost doubling

[-] Unmapped@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 week ago

Just buy the lifetime Plex pass before the price goes up then.

[-] Xanza@lemm.ee 7 points 1 week ago

spend money to pirate now before you have to spend even more money to pirate later

🤦‍♂️

pLeX iS aWeSoMe!

[-] CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee 13 points 1 week ago

This is like complaining that you have to spend money on HDDs or a VPN.

[-] Xanza@lemm.ee 7 points 1 week ago

Not really. Or at all. Both of those are multi-purpose devices which you can use for other things. A plex license is singularly for Plex. It doesn't do anything more for you than to stream your own media, something you can already accomplish for free.

Of all the examples you could have chosen you essentially picked the worst two.

[-] CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago

It doesn't do anything more for you than to stream your own media

Sure it does, which is why we're not all using VLC to stream our media.

Furthermore, they do provide a simple way to share our media with friends and family via their authentication servers along with their relay servers if direct access to your server goes down for whatever reason which have associated costs. I have a lot of my own gripes about Plex, but this particular change is probably at the bottom of the list, and I think acting like this software has zero value is disparaging not only Plex but Jellyfin and the army of volunteers over there working hard to make their product better for you and everyone else at no cost. You're essentially saying all their work is worthless since their product accomplishes all the same things as Plex.

[-] tkw8@lemm.ee 6 points 1 week ago

It’s not the same at all.

Plex practically doubled their prices to access features that users previously had for free.

Can’t remember the last time a HDD manufacturer put previously free features behind a paywall or when a Mullvad doubled its prices.

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[-] Cerothen@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

Really I think we are going to see an increase in jellyfin uptake given the changes which is great for that project

[-] keyez@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Just did that, honestly didn't know lifetime was always available, thought it was only during sales or certain times, should have gotten it years ago

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this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
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