When comparing Plex vs FairEmail, the Slant community recommends FairEmail for most people. In the question“What are the most useful Android phone apps?” FairEmail is ranked 4th while Plex is ranked 20th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Supported on many devices
It's pretty hard to find a NAS or STB that doesn't support Plex.
Pro Accessible via web browser
A modern web browser is enough to get everything Plex has to offer.
Pro Added lots of media databases
Metadata for media files will automatically be updated by using media databases. This provides posters, movie trailers, descriptions, information about actors, etc.
Pro Open source
Pro Multiple account support
Multiple identities per account, notifications per account or contact.
Pro Actively maintained
It is actively maintained. The used libraries are up to date and bugs are fixed quickly.
Pro Privacy-Focused
There are no trackers within the app and trackers sent with mails are disabled by default. This app lets you read and compose emails with your privacy in your very own hands.
Pro Fast and customizable
Privacy features are excellent.
Pro Lightweight
~ 20 MB.
Pro Identities support
Pro Two way synchronization
Pro Flat conversation threading
Pro Encryption support
Supports both OpenPGP and S/MIME encryption for total privacy.
Pro Support for safety and low-bandwidth
Allows to configure maximum size of email downloaded immediately.
Pro Can show plain text of html mails
Pro Show links before opening
Some HTML mails may show different links and link texts, this app however will show you the real link before opening, protecting against phishing and scams
Pro Recognize spoofing internationalized domain names
Some domain names may use non-ASCII characters looking similar to the latin alphabet (e.g. some cyrillic characters). This app will show you the punycode representation of the domain, if that is the case and thus protect you against phishing and scams.
Pro Reformat the HTML mail for increased privacy
Some HTML mails may include ressources that can track you. This app doesn't load them by default, but reformats the text, increasing both privacy and readability.
Pro Autoconfiguration with open standards
There are open standards for any email provider to show how an email client should connect to the server. This app supports both RFC 6186 as well as Thunderbird Autoconfiguration standards.
Pro OAuth support for most common mail providers
Supports authenticating with the mail server using OAuth, thus increasing security.
Pro Low RAM usage at the right setings
Cons
Con Needs registration
You need a PLEX account even if you use it on your local LAN.
Con Proprietary software
Unfree software.
Con No gapless audio-playback
Plex still does not support gapless playback of audio files such as mp3 or FLAC.
Con Playback error: This server is not powerful enough to convert video
More hardware requirements on Plex due to a useless/non-intuitive transcoder. When using lower spec hardware (eg SBC) Plex will not transcode or play HD+ videos. When compared to other packages (eg Jellyfin which transcodes nicely using FFMeg), Plex falls short on video playback and transcode settings to get videos to play (fastest/lightest option still fails).