Gallery vs. Plex — Feature Comparison
Audit date: 2026-09-26
Table of Contents#
Feature Comparison#
Quick reference for every feature in this document. The table has three groups: features where the two products are on par, features where Gallery leads, and features where Plex leads. The sections after the table explain the last two groups in detail. ⚠️ means partial support.
| Feature | Gallery | Plex |
|---|---|---|
| On par | ||
| Movies / TV series libraries | ✅ | ✅ |
| Music library | ✅ (beta flag) | ✅ |
| Photo / video albums | ✅ | ✅ |
| HLS adaptive bitrate streaming | ✅ | ✅ |
| DASH adaptive bitrate streaming | ✅ | ✅ |
| Server-side transcoding | ✅ | ✅ |
| Hardware-accelerated transcoding (NVENC, QSV, AMF, VideoToolbox) | ✅ | ✅ (Plex Pass) |
| HDR handling (HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, Dolby Vision detection; preserve or tone-map to SDR) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Multiple quality tiers | ✅ (8K → 240p) | ✅ |
| Direct / remux playback modes | ✅ | ✅ |
| Subtitle support (SRT, VTT, ASS, SSA, TTML) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Multi audio track selection | ✅ | ✅ |
| Resume playback (continue watching/listening/reading) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Intro / credits detection and skip | ✅ (Chromaprint) | ✅ (Plex Pass) |
| Scrub preview thumbnails (trickplay) | ✅ (admin can regenerate per item, season, series, or library) | ✅ |
| Playlists (cross-media) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Favorites / liked items | ✅ | ✅ |
| User management | ✅ | ✅ |
| Parental controls (content-rating limits, block unrated) | ✅ (policies assignable per user or group, with per-title allow/deny lists) | ✅ |
| API tokens | ✅ | ✅ |
| Web frontend | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mobile app (iOS / Android) | ✅ (Expo React Native) | ✅ (native) |
| Apple TV / Android TV apps | ⚠️ In development (gallery-tv, tvOS + Android TV; no official release yet). See the TV feature audit. |
✅ |
| Chromecast (web and mobile) | ⚠️ Experimental (custom receiver app; Google Cast SDK in the mobile app) | ✅ |
| Offline downloads on mobile | ✅ | ✅ (Plex Pass) |
| Scheduled library scans | ✅ | ✅ |
| Real-time file watching (auto-import of new files) | ✅ | ✅ |
| EXIF metadata extraction | ✅ | ✅ |
| TMDB / TVDB metadata integration | ✅ | ✅ |
| MusicBrainz integration | ✅ | ✅ |
| Watch Together (synchronized playback) | ✅ | ✅ (Plex Pass) |
| Dark / light mode | ✅ | ✅ |
| Advanced search across all media types | ✅ (AND terms, saved searches) | ✅ |
| Playback speed control | ✅ | ✅ |
| Multiple subtitle tracks per item | ✅ | ✅ |
| Device-code / QR sign-in for TV apps | ✅ | ✅ (plex.tv/link) |
| Multiple versions of one movie or series (for example 4K and 1080p) with a version picker | ✅ | ✅ |
| Gallery ahead (see details) | ||
| Podcast library | ✅ (beta flag) | ❌ (removed April 2022) |
| Audiobook library | ✅ (beta flag) | ❌ (workaround via Music library; ignores chapters) |
| Book library with OpenLibrary metadata | ✅ | ❌ |
| Fine-grained RBAC (100+ permissions, per-library roles) | ✅ | ⚠️ Coarser admin/viewer split |
| Per-album user and group permissions | ✅ | ❌ |
| User group management | ✅ | ❌ |
| OIDC / SSO support | ✅ | ❌ (plex.tv accounts only) |
| Self-hosted MFA and passwordless login (passkeys, TOTP, email OTP) | ✅ | ⚠️ Sign-in delegated to plex.tv |
| Admin-enforced authentication policy | ✅ | ❌ |
| Audit log and login history | ✅ | ❌ |
| Time-of-day access windows | ✅ | ❌ |
| Remote playback without a paywall | ✅ | ❌ (Plex Pass or Remote Watch Pass) |
| AI-powered content generation (Ollama / OpenAI) | ✅ | ❌ |
| YouTube / yt-dlp import and sync | ✅ | ❌ |
| Magic links with usage caps and passwords | ✅ | ⚠️ Simpler shares |
| Geotagged photo map and timeline views | ✅ | ❌ |
| Email delivery and self-service password reset | ✅ | ❌ |
| OpenTelemetry / distributed tracing | ✅ | ❌ |
| In-app log viewer and performance dashboard | ✅ | ❌ |
| Banner / announcement system | ✅ | ❌ |
| Per-item download restrictions | ✅ | ❌ |
| Offline H.265 transcode jobs | ✅ | ❌ |
| Multiple metadata sources per library type | ✅ | ❌ |
| Admin-visible active scan progress | ✅ | ❌ |
| Queue management UI | ✅ | ❌ |
| Feature flags for whole product areas | ✅ | ❌ |
| Plex ahead (see details) | ||
| Roku, Fire TV, Samsung, LG, and game console apps | ❌ | ✅ |
| AirPlay | ❌ | ✅ |
| Collections and smart / automatic collections | ❌ | ✅ |
| Automatic subtitle download | ❌ | ✅ |
| Remote access relay (no port forwarding) | ❌ | ✅ |
| Custom collection and title artwork | ⚠️ Per item and album only | ✅ |
| Live TV and DVR | ❌ | ✅ |
| Tidal music streaming integration | ❌ | ✅ (Plex Pass) |
| DLNA / UPnP server | ❌ (not planned, by design) | ✅ |
| Lyrics display | ❌ | ✅ |
| Trailers and extras | ❌ | ✅ |
| Multi-server aggregation | ❌ | ✅ |
| Third-party metadata providers | ⚠️ Fixed integrations only | ✅ |
| Built-in database backup | ❌ | ✅ |
| Sub-profiles / managed users | ❌ (not planned, by design) | ✅ (Plex Home) |
Gallery Ahead of Plex#
Features where Gallery provides capabilities Plex does not.
| Feature | Notes |
|---|---|
| Fine-grained RBAC | 100+ discrete permissions; per-library roles (Manager / Editor / Contributor / Viewer / Scanner) vs. Plex’s coarser admin/viewer split |
| Per-album user and group permissions | Album-level access control fully independent of server-level roles |
| User group management | Groups with group-level role assignments propagated across libraries |
| OIDC / SSO support | Plex uses its own plex.tv account auth only; Gallery supports any OIDC provider |
| Self-hosted MFA and passwordless login | Passkeys (WebAuthn), TOTP with recovery codes, and email OTP. Plex delegates sign-in to plex.tv accounts. |
| Admin-enforced authentication policy | Admins choose which sign-in methods are allowed or required, and can grant per-user MFA bypasses |
| Audit log and login history | Admin audit log for permission, sharing, deletion, and account changes, plus a per-login event trail (successes and failures, all methods including SSO). Plex has no equivalent. |
| Time-of-day access windows | Allowed hours and weekdays per user or group, enforced on web and mobile. Plex has rating limits but no schedule-based restriction. |
| No paywall on remote playback | Plex now requires Plex Pass or a Remote Watch Pass to stream personal media outside the home. Gallery has no paid tier. |
| AI-powered content generation | Title, description, and tag generation via per-user, shareable AI accounts: self-hosted (Ollama, LM Studio) or cloud (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and more) |
| YouTube / yt-dlp import and sync | Download YouTube videos and auto-sync YouTube playlists into albums on a cron schedule (YouTube is the only supported platform today) |
| Podcast library | Plex ended its Podcasts and Web Shows feature on April 15, 2022. Gallery has a podcast library (beta flag, off by default). |
| Audiobook library | Plex has no audiobook library type. Users file audiobooks under Music, where Plex treats each M4B as one track and ignores embedded chapters. Gallery has a dedicated audiobook library (beta flag) with chapter tracking. |
| OpenLibrary book metadata | Full book library with author photos, ISBNs, cover art, and audiobook chapter tracking |
| Magic links with usage caps and passwords | Expiration dates, per-link access limits (resettable), optional passwords — Plex shares are much simpler |
| Watch Together without a paywall | Plex requires Plex Pass; Gallery includes synchronized viewing (with host control and host transfer) for all users |
| Geotagged photo map and timeline views | Map and date timeline of photo/video libraries, individually toggleable by feature flag |
| Email delivery and self-service password reset | SMTP, Mailgun, Postmark, Resend, and SendGrid providers; configurable password policy and reset-link timeout |
| OpenTelemetry / distributed tracing | Production-grade observability (traces, structured logs, custom service names) |
| In-app log viewer and performance dashboard | Tail and export server logs, and view resource usage, from the admin panel. Frontend errors can be forwarded to the server log (feature flag). |
| Banner / announcement system | Server-wide banners targeted at specific roles or individual users, with start/end scheduling |
| Per-item download restrictions | Item-level permission to restrict or allow downloads independently of library-level access |
| Offline H.265 transcode jobs | Queue server-side H.265 encodes for later mobile download |
| Multiple metadata sources per library type | TMDB + TVDB for cinema; MusicBrainz for music; OpenLibrary for books — all simultaneously |
| Admin-visible active scan progress | Real-time scan progress across all libraries in the admin dashboard |
| Queue management UI | Thumbnail, scan-after, and web-import queues are all inspectable, retryable, and cancellable |
| Feature flags | Admins can switch whole product areas (Cinema, Music, Podcasts, Audiobooks, Map, Timeline) on or off |
Plex Ahead of Gallery (Gaps)#
Features Plex provides that Gallery currently lacks.
High Priority Gaps#
| Gap | Notes |
|---|---|
| Smart TV / streaming box coverage | Plex has apps for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Android TV, and game consoles. Gallery’s TV app (gallery-tv) targets tvOS and Android TV, but has no official release yet. There are no plans listed for Roku, Fire TV, Samsung, or LG apps. The TV feature audit lists the feature gaps inside the TV app itself (subtitle rendering, device capabilities, next-episode autoplay, skip intro). |
| AirPlay | Plex supports AirPlay. Gallery has no explicit AirPlay support. |
| Stable casting | Plex’s Chromecast support is mature. Gallery’s Chromecast support (web and mobile) is experimental. |
Medium Priority Gaps#
| Gap | Notes |
|---|---|
| Collections and smart / automatic collections | Plex groups items into collections, and can auto-populate them from rules (genre, year, actor, rating). Gallery has only manually curated playlists and no collection concept. |
| Automatic subtitle download | Plex downloads subtitles from OpenSubtitles automatically. Gallery relies solely on embedded or locally present subtitle files. |
| Remote access relay | Plex Relay routes traffic through Plex’s infrastructure when the server is behind NAT, with no port-forwarding required. Gallery requires direct network access (reverse proxy, VPN, or port forward). |
| Native mobile apps | Plex ships fully native iOS and Android apps. Gallery uses Expo React Native, which may lag behind native on performance and platform-specific features. |
| Custom collection and title artwork | Plex supports custom posters, backgrounds, logos, and square art. Gallery supports choosing artwork per item and album, but has no collections to decorate. |
Low Priority Gaps#
| Gap | Notes |
|---|---|
| Live TV and DVR | Plex supports over-the-air broadcast TV with antenna or HDHomeRun tuners. |
| Tidal music streaming integration | Plex integrates with Tidal (Plex Pass) to augment local music libraries with streaming. |
| Lyrics display | Plex shows synced lyrics during music playback. |
| Trailers and extras | Plex attaches trailers and extras to movies. |
| Multi-server aggregation | Plex can browse multiple servers from a single client UI. |
| Metadata provider ecosystem | Plex supports third-party metadata providers. Gallery uses fixed integrations. |
| Built-in database backup | Plex backs up its database on a schedule. Gallery has no built-in backup; back up the /config volume externally. |
Not planned (by design)#
| Difference | Notes |
|---|---|
| Sub-profiles / managed users | Plex Home gives each household member a profile under one account. Gallery uses server-level accounts only, and each person is a full user. This will not change. The TV app supports several signed-in accounts with a switcher and per-account PIN lock. |
| DLNA / UPnP server | Plex exposes a DLNA endpoint for playback on any DLNA-compatible renderer. This is a real gap for people with older TVs, receivers, and consoles that have no app. Gallery will not add DLNA or UPnP. The protocol is legacy (the DLNA certification body dissolved in 2017), and its unauthenticated multicast discovery has a long record of security problems. Common guidance is to disable it. Gallery’s answer for the living room is native TV apps and Chromecast, which do not reach devices that have neither. This will not change. |
Previously listed, now closed#
| Former gap | Status |
|---|---|
| Parental controls | Gallery now has content-rating policies (per media type, block-unrated, allow/deny lists) plus time-of-day restrictions. |
| Casting from mobile | The mobile app now supports Google Cast through the same custom receiver as the web UI. Still experimental. |
| HDR / Dolby Vision handling | Gallery detects HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision, then preserves HDR for capable clients or tone-maps to SDR. |
| Multi-version media | Listed in error. Gallery groups several files under one movie or series, with a “Select Version” dropdown showing resolution and duration. |
| Photo face / person detection | Removed. Plex has no native face recognition either. |
Summary Verdict#
Gallery is a serious Plex alternative for self-hosters who prioritize:
- Access control — The RBAC system goes far beyond what Plex offers, making Gallery a better fit for shared servers with multiple users who need different permission levels.
- Account security — Passkeys, TOTP, email OTP, admin-enforced sign-in policy, and a full audit and login trail, all self-hosted.
- Family controls without a subscription — Content-rating policies and time-of-day windows, assignable per user or group.
- Privacy-first sharing — Magic links with passwords, expiration, and usage caps are more flexible than Plex’s sharing model.
- AI-assisted metadata — Self-hosted AI (Ollama) or cloud AI (OpenAI) for automatic tagging and descriptions, with no subscription required.
- YouTube archival — Integrated yt-dlp import and playlist sync for YouTube content.
- Watch Together and remote playback — Available to all users without a paywall.
The most significant gaps are TV platform coverage and the lack of a relay for remote access. The gallery-tv app (tvOS and Android TV) is approaching a less experimental phase but has no official release yet, and there are no Roku, Fire TV, Samsung, or LG apps. Chromecast from web and mobile is experimental, and AirPlay is not supported. For a living-room-first experience, the unreleased and limited TV apps remain the primary limitation.
For a solo user or small household using a web browser or phone, Gallery is close to Plex feature parity and surpasses it in several areas. The Music, Podcasts, and Audiobooks libraries are still flagged beta and are off by default until an admin enables them.