One day I decided to go to a zoo somewhere not named San Diego.
And there I saw a bunch load of ticket-holding people banging against the glass on a seemingly harmless orangutan along with the orangutan’s baby instead of simply being quietly and appropriately awed.
There was this one particular man who looked to holler at what a lot of people would say was indeed a sad looking (I.e not happy) ape.
And speaking honestly, if the world had a good dose of justice every now or then, the orangutan would do no wrong in smashing free and liquifying that same man’s limbs pretty much similar to a bouncer who has the unenviable tasks of squeezing the life out of an uncooked sausage.
Perhaps what such people really should do is stay at home and watch something cool.
Yes.
They should watch something cool.
Something on Kodi.
But perhaps they do not like Kodi or don’t have Kodi.
Well, then there are many Kodi alternatives.
And that is what we will talk about here today.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Plex
Compatibility
- Kodi
- Netgear
- Tivo
- Web
- Smart TV
- PlayStation
- Chromecast
- Amazon Fire
- Xbox
- Windows
- iOS
- Android
Price
Free as well as paid where you have to pay either $4.99 per month or $39.99 each year or $119.99 for a lifetime.
Website
https://www.plex.tv/
A lot of people rightly think that Kodi is perhaps overrated and that Plex is better.
We do not know which side to take here.
But what we will say is that Plex is as bit as good as Kodi.
In some areas, it might even be better.
In the end, it all depends on the user. Though.
Plex comes fully loaded with a ton of features that can easily overwhelm new as well as old users.
In fact, the client-server architecture which Plex makes use of for its platform makes Plex pretty much the perfect foil to streaming media with the help of different devices.
Not only that, Plex also allows users to stream the same content on all of their supported internet-enabled devices in a seamless way.
And the first thing you will notice about Plex is how fascinating its user interface is.
It really does bring one’s streaming experience to life especially when you make use of it as your home theater application.
On the other hand, we feel that Plex mimics a good number of Kodi features.
Kodi has a ton of features of its own and it is true that Plex does not offer them all.
But when it comes to things like the actual collection of working channels, Plex is more than able to stand toe to toe with the likes of Kodi and others.
With Plex, users have the option of watching high-quality and premium content based on any given topic or channel that they like and prefer.
And while it is true that Plex is generous enough to offer users a reasonable amount of goodness for free (the tool itself is pretty much free), it is also true that the paid version offers users a far more premium streaming experience against a cost that most would consider affordable.
We would also like you to know that if you know where to look, there is actually a smart way in which you can integrate Plex right into Kodi.
We’ll have a guide on that pretty soon.
Once you managed to get Plex on Kodi, you will pretty much have the best of both worlds.
SPMC
Compatibility
- Amazon Fire OS
- Android
Price
Pretty much free. Like, absolutely free.
Official website
One thing you need to note about SPMC right now is that the developers behind this streaming platform are no longer actively developing it.
However, users who want to use it can still go to the official website of SPMC and download it and also use it without any kind of limitations.
This is the option about which we feel that if you are an avid Android user and also want something which behaves and looks exactly like Kodi then just go ahead without thinking much.
SPMC is an abbreviation of the term Semper Media Center.
And as it turns out, the guy who worked as the Android manager of Kodi in a previous life has developed this platform.
Perhaps that is the reason why SPMC feels a lot like Kodi than anything else.
The great thing about SPMC is that any given add-on that you find for Kodi, automatically works with SPMC.
And the developer of this Kodi-like platform has also called SPMC as the platform for those people who want to experience an Android-minded fork of what we today know as Kodi.
Because of that, it is pretty much clear that SPMC is the best Kodi alternative that you can find on the market today.
We have to say that this is especially true for all those folks who are making use of Android smartphone devices, Smart TV sets, and tablets.
However, there is one pretty tangible disadvantage of making use of SPMC as well.
And that is, you will never be able to make it work with the iOS platform.
What we would say is that if the developers of KPMC had managed to make it compatible with Kodi then there is no doubt that SPMC would have counted itself as the perfect clone of the open-source Kodi platform.
That is also the reason why we feel the developers of SPMC should give it some more thought and at some point try to introduce SPMC to the iPad and iPhone users as well.
There is a pretty solid plus side to SPMC as well.
And that advantage has to do with the ease with which SPMC is able to work with Amazon Firestick devices.
Our judgment is that is you are an Android user or an Amazon FireStick user you should have a win-win situation with an option such as SPMC.
Emby
Compatibility
- PS4
- Xbox One
- Samsung Smart TV sets
- Roku
- Android TV
- Amazon Fire
- FreeBSD
- Docker
- MacOS
- Linux
- Windows
- Android
Price
There is a free tier as well as a Premium tier which asks users to pay either $4.99 per month or $54.00 per month or $119.00 per lifetime (assuming there is only one).
Official website
Emby is one of the handful of solutions that we call the Open Media Solution.
And there is no doubt about the fact that Emby has a point there when it claims its open-source-ness
As far as functionality goes, it pretty much works like Plex.
But only if you take the risk of any and all proprietary software off Plex.
What we mean to say is that it is indeed an open source platform and is able to make use of the client-server mechanism very efficiently.
One of the reasons why we like Emby so much is that it makes it super easy for all users to stream content from various sources to any and all connected internet-enabled devices.
Not only that but Emby also offers users a good bit of live TV functionality.
You have all the time in the world to play with Emby since it also offers the DVR recordings.
Apart from that, we feel that Emby really sets itself apart from all other platforms because of one particular tactical component.
That component is the parental control feature.
Using Emby is not only convenient but also smart since Emby offers a lot of ‘smart’ features.
For starts, Emby offers users the ability to recognize any type of hardware capabilities which exist within different internet-enabled devices.
Not only that, it is also able to adjust its media components as is required from the user.
Collectively speaking, we have no doubt that the online streaming community will soon fall in love with something like Eby which offers neat content organization along with every kind of media that users can think of.
Emby is here to stay, in other words.
Once the user has connected to Emby, Emby takes it upon itself to notify him/her of all the important events that have taken place based on the user’s activity on the Emby platform.
Not only that, Emby also offers a premium feature which enables users to access various backups of theirs.
There is also a Cinema Mode in the application.
Now, the other thing that readers should note here is that at the time of writing this guide, Emby had actually developed itself enough to become as polished as Kodi or even Plex.
We feel that the time is not far away when Emby legitimately becomes the best Kodi alternative.
Jriver
Compatibility
- Smart TVs
- macOS
- Windows
Price
There is a free trial period. Those who have some money to burn can pay $49.98 to Jriver in order to purchase a license.
It is a one-time payment though.
Official website.
It should not take long for users to notice that the design of JRIVER is pretty much along the lines of Kodi.
Jriver is actually the one option where users are meant to find anything and everything that they want to consume.
In simpler terms, it tries its best to address all the media consumption needs of the modern online consumer.
We feel that Jriver is the best option for those users who usually consume the majority of their content with help of either their laptop device or their desktop machine.
On another note, we would like to mention here that the thing we have noticed the most in all these Kodi alternatives is that almost all of them have a lack of support for mouse integration.
It is there.
But it is not great.
And that is a big problem.
The reason why the majority of Kodi alternatives do not offer great mouse integration is because most of them are designed for media consumption on a TV or Android device rather than a computer machine.
However, we also feel that JRIVER has done a pretty good job of it.
You won’t have to spend too much time with JRIVER to find out that its primary interface is actually a Graphical User Interface that resembles the Windows UI as closely as anything else on the market today.
And what it does is that it allows users to make very specific alterations to their individual copies of media files and then also play them via their own settings.
In other words, users have the option of selecting more than one media files to play at the same time.
The platform also allows users to assign some kind of bulk attribute to their media files.
However, you should take note that you can always return to the JRIVER platform to watch one of your favorite movies on your TV and in your living room.
JRIVER is built to work in all environment it seems.
Also when it comes to completing the tasks of ripping various physical media discs directly to one’s content library, we feel that JRIVER is actually better than Kodi.
And with that, we move to our next Kodi alternative.
Media Portal
Compatibility
- Windows 10
- Windows 8.1
- Windows 8
- Windows 7
- Windows Vista
Price
Free of charge
Official website
https://www.team-mediaportal.com/
It is true that a big portion of online consumers still does not know much the option that we call Media Portal.
And that is probably because of its boring name.
And also because Media Portal is fairly new to the world of streaming.
Moreover, it is also true that Media Portal does not provide users with the same number of streaming features as Kodi or Plex.
However, our research shows that there are some apps in the market today that aim towards fulfilling specific functionalities that the apps already on the market either do not offer or severely lack in.
We think that the USP of this option called Media Portal is one thing and that one thing is Digital Video Recording or DVR.
DVR is one feature which online consumers must make use of more often because it allows them to not only record stuff but also to do so on a schedule.
It also allows users to watch some good Live TV if that is something that they like.
Now, we are completely aware of the fact that Kodi indeed supports Live TV.
But it is also true that there are many hiccups that users have to face when it is time to watch Live TV on Kodi.
Keeping aside the good DVR functionality, what we have come to know is that Media Portal also offers users a good amount of support for various TV Tuner cards.
No one is saying that you should not use Media Portal for the purposes of playing various audio files, Blu-Ray discs along with videos.
It is not a stretch to say that Media Portal further accentuates itself by making available a ton of plugins for more functionality.
The plugins that we are talking about here enable users to do pretty much everything.
With the right plugins, you can use Media Portal to watch YouTube and track the latest and the greatest sports scores (if that is your thing).
However, every Kodi alternative that we have mentioned so far has come with a downside.
And there is a downside to Media Portal as well.
And the one we would like to mention here is that this Kodi alternative, Media Portal, only works on the Windows platform.
So all you folks on Android, iOS and macOS machine, you better look at some other Kodi alternative because there is nothing for you here.
Also, note that there are no functional remote controls for Android or iOS when it comes to Media Portal.
So do not waste your time there.
Stremio
Compatibility
- IOS
- Android
- Linux
- MacOS
- Windows
Price
Absolutely free
Official website
This Kodi alternative is similar to Kodi in the sense that just like Kodi it too allows users to stream movies and TV Shows on various different online platforms and that too primarily from one single screen.
Now, the best thing about making use of Stremio is that users would never find themselves without having access to the best quality of online content.
With Stremio, the medium that you choose to stream content becomes pretty much irrelevant.
The official Stremio tries its best to offer users a platform where they can safely and confidently store all of their content in their personal library and make a collection of it as well.
As mentioned at the top as well, Stremio is a rare Kodi alternative that works well across a host of devices and operating systems.
If you sync the library in a given place then Stremio would perform the syncing action on all other devices and operating systems as well.
One other additional feature that comes with Stremio and which deserves a mention here is known as the Linvo database.
What does it do?
Well, it makes sure that the user’s data is in perfect arrangement on each of the user’s connected device.
Stremio comes with a custom notification setting which informs the user if one of their favorite TV show or movie has had new episodes released recently.
Apart from that, the recommendations engine provides users with the opportunity to make use of plenty of hints regarding new TV shows that the platform thinks they would like for sure or may just want to give one a watch.
Users should know that they will have to sign up for an account with Stremio if they want to make use of the platform.
And the process of doing so is simple and straightforward.
Again, we would remind you that you cannot use Stremio if you do not sign up for an account with the service before watching anything on it.
OSMC
Compatibility
- Vero
- Raspberry Pi
- Apple TV
- Linux
- MacOS
- Windows
Price
Free, so far.
Official website
Let’s just get this out of the way first that OSMC stands for the term Open Source Media Center.
It is new.
And it is rare.
It is rare in the sense that even though it offers a good amount of content to users, it does not try to confuse them with a ton of options up first to give them the illusion that they have a lot of choices.
Instead, the menu is simple.
And remarkably so.
It is that simplicity in the design of this Kodi alternative that acts as an undercurrent in all of the OSMC operations.
Some of the options which are available to users include,
- Internet media play
- Local network
- Attached storage
Now, here is another interesting bit that we think you will not find surprising at all.
It is:
OSMC is actually built loosely on the Kodi working model.
Think of OSMC as the Linux version of Kodi that Kodi itself would want to offer to users.
In simple terms, OSMC is the one Kodi alternative that works pretty much flawlessly with any and all Kodi add-ons.
Keeping aside the standard features, we want to let you know that OSMC has good support for a different range of TV Tuners and WiFi adapters.
The web-based user interface and full support for various desktop environments give us the indication that this Kodi alternative is serious about making a name for itself in the industry.
We also feel that these are just some of the reasons why OSMC has managed to win several accolades from reputable sources (such as ourselves, but who cares) like,
- The New York Times
- Wall Street Journal
- LifeHacker
If that did not impress you so far then know that OSMC has also started to offer its very own flagship streaming device.
It is called the VERO 4K.
From what we have gathered so far, the device offers full support for 4K video, HD audio and also content that is 10-bit.