Navidrome vs Plex for Music: Which Should You Self-Host?

Quick Verdict Navidrome is the better dedicated music server. It's lighter, free, and gives you access to 50+ polished Subsonic-compatible music apps. Plex's music experience through Plexamp is genuinely excellent — arguably the best single music client available — but requires a Plex Pass ($5/month or $120 lifetime) and is part of a larger, resource-heavier platform. Overview Navidrome is a lightweight, open-source music server written in Go. It implements the Subsonic API, giving you access to a massive ecosystem of dedicated music clients. It runs as a single container with embedded SQLite, uses ~50 MB of RAM, and does one thing: stream your music collection. Plex is a proprietary, full-featured media server for movies, TV, music, photos, and live TV. Its music experience centers on Plexamp, a dedicated music player app that rivals commercial streaming apps in polish and features. However, Plexamp requires a Plex Pass subscription, and Plex itself is a heavier platform running video