When comparing Plex vs Subsonic, the Slant community recommends Plex for most people. In the question“What is the best home media server?” Plex is ranked 2nd while Subsonic is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Plex is:
It's pretty hard to find a NAS or STB that doesn't support Plex.
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 Can be accessed via browser
Allows accessing all music from anywhere where there's an Internet connection.
Pro On-the-fly re-sampling
Bitrates can be lowered on-the-fly via ffmpeg encoder so it can be used even if bandwidth is limited.
Pro Can be accessed with any network-enabled media player
Pro Supports all audio and video formats that stream over http
Pro Support for ratings
Pro Playlists created can be shared with others
Pro Allows apps pre-caching of tracks
Create a playlist and pre-cache all tracks on your mobile device.
It is also possible to update playlists and automatically keep the pre-cache in sync.
Pro Open source
Pro Includes an embedded Flash player
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).
Con No longer open source
Con ADs
Until you buy a license key you will have ADs in the Webinterface.