Jellyfin alternative

A Jellyfin alternative for family photos.

Jellyfin is a free, open-source media server for movies, shows and music. If what you need is a home for the photos and videos your family takes, Filamama does that one job.

Why look beyond Jellyfin for photos

  • Built for movies and TVJellyfin organises movies, shows, music, live TV and books, with photos as one library among them [2].
  • Phone backup built inFilamama comes with an Android app, Piktures, that backs your phone up to the server, with uploads that resume and a duplicate check before sending.
  • Photos and home videos firstFilamama shows a timeline by date, albums from your phone folders, and home videos that play in the browser.

Filamama fits if

  • You want a home media server for the family's photos and videos, installed natively on a Mac mini or a Linux box.
  • Your Android phones should back themselves up: Piktures checks for duplicates before any bytes move and resumes at the exact byte.
  • Nothing should leave the house: the server makes no outbound calls and answers on your home network only, over HTTPS on port 5400 with a certificate each paired phone pins.
  • You'll reach it from outside through Tailscale, not an open port.

Stay with Jellyfin if

  • You stream movies, TV shows or music, or watch live TV [2]. Filamama does none of that.
  • You need on-the-fly transcoding, with GPU acceleration on Intel, NVIDIA, AMD, Apple or Rockchip [3]. Filamama makes one playable copy of a video the browser can't play.
  • You watch on many devices: Jellyfin keeps a list of client apps and plays in the main browsers [4].
  • You want a published open-source licence today: Jellyfin is GPL, with no fees [2]. Filamama will be source-available with its first release.

Run both

Most people don't need to choose. Keep Jellyfin for films and series, and run Filamama next to it on the same machine for the family's photos and home videos. Content provenance, with content type tags, AI prompt capture and C2PA, is in development: read about provenance. For Plex and Emby too, see Filamama vs Plex, Jellyfin and Emby. Coming from a photo server? Read the Immich alternative page.

Install Filamama Full comparison Help center

Questions.

Is Filamama a Jellyfin replacement?

Only for photos and home videos. Filamama doesn't organise movies, TV shows or music, and has no live TV. If you use Jellyfin for films and series, keep it, and run Filamama next to it for the family's photos.

Can Filamama and Jellyfin run on the same machine?

Yes. They do different jobs. Filamama answers on its own port, 5400, over HTTPS, on your home network only.

Does Filamama back up my phone?

Yes, Android today: the Piktures app backs up photos and videos to Filamama, checks for duplicates before sending and resumes an interrupted upload at the exact byte. The iPhone app is planned.

Is Filamama free like Jellyfin?

Yes, free with no paid tier and no account with us. Jellyfin is free and GPL; Filamama will be source-available, with the licence coming in the first public release.

Can I reach Filamama away from home?

Not out of the box, by design: it serves your home network only and makes no outbound calls. Put Tailscale in front of it to reach it from your own devices. Read the remote access guide.

Small numbers point to the sources below. Filamama's side comes from its own specification and code (source 1). Jellyfin facts checked on 17 and 31 October 2026.

Sources

  1. Filamama: its own specification and source code (SPEC.md, README, the server and Piktures code).
  2. Jellyfin: media types, "No Fees", no tracking or phone-home, GPL jellyfin.org
  3. Jellyfin docs, Hardware Acceleration: on-the-fly video transcoding on Intel, NVIDIA, AMD, Apple and Rockchip GPUs jellyfin.org/docs/general/post-install/transcoding/hardware-acceleration
  4. Jellyfin docs, Clients: a list of client apps, plus Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Edge in the browser jellyfin.org/docs/general/clients