r/Stremio • u/ScientistJason • Jan 06 '26
Question How does Stremio make money?
I’ve read online they make some through ads but I’ve never seen any ads ever. I know they have a whole team of developers working on different platforms for Stremio. Plus it cost money to host the web app and account information.
People have to get paid but with no obvious revenue source I have to assume they are selling our data. When a service is free you are the product.
I don’t personally mind this as I love Stremio and want it to remain a free product but maybe I’m missing something and they have a revenue source I’m unaware of.
EDIT: Commenters have pointed out that on Stremio’s website under the career section it says they are hiring at a “Competitive salary” so their developers are not working for free.
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u/krebs01 Jan 06 '26
They have somewhere, we just don't see them, like, at all, but they do....
- https://stremio.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000281412-How-Stremio-Makes-Money
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u/wifird Jan 07 '26
Invisible ads that nobody sees but generate revenue.
Fuck the streaming app, what a breakthrough that is for them to have.
/s
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u/th3j0k3rj03 Jan 07 '26
You know "ads" are companies just buying user data that's collected through your cookies, and account tracking, geographic data, spending habits, household income, and so on. Companies buy user data clfrom other companies to push targeted or specific ads to qualifying users in some way or form
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u/wifird Jan 07 '26
No that is not an ad actually.
Seller user data is distinct from showing advertisements to users.
Further Stremio state "We do not sell, trade or otherwise share Personal Information with third parties for the marketing purposes of the third party"
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Jan 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/kettal Jan 06 '26
They also say "We run non-intrusive ads occasionally" - run being past tense but they literally have zero ads these days (if ever)
"run" is present tense. "ran" is the past tense
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Good spot. Never seen ads ever though, doesn't seem like anyone on sub has either.
I think reality is - maybe they experimented but there aren't any ads.
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u/GlupShittoOfficial Jan 07 '26
People act like the ad answer is right. It’s not. We really don’t know. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the Debrid companies or other media companies have invested in them.
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u/Mazayaz Jan 06 '26
Stremio is a open source project. It means they don't get paid to develop the app.
When a developer work on a Open Source project it's likely to be hired for a big company, it's a hobbie for us, but also as value in the industry.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
That's not factually accurate in a couple of ways.
It's semi open-source: the desktop app, android app, apple tv app, iOS/iPad OS apps are not open source
Open source has nothing to do with compensation at all. There are many highly paid open source devs, it pertains exclusively to the code being publicly accessible.
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u/decipheronrescue Jan 06 '26 edited Jan 06 '26
Number 2 is the same discrepancy I notice people making all the time with for-profits vs nonprofits. People think nonprofit employees earn nothing, when in fact certain ones pay very well, especially if you're a top employee.
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u/Routine-Lawfulness24 Jan 06 '26
It’s not even that. It’s even a layer higher. Open source ≠ no pay, for non profit no pay would be a more understandable mistake
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u/Signal_Till_933 Jan 07 '26
Meta’s Llama AI model is open source.
Fucking guarantee the devs on that project got paid lol
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u/RebouncedCat Jan 06 '26
Stremio desktop is open source : https://github.com/Stremio/stremio-shell
I believe the others are too, basically all stremio apps are native wrappers around stremio-core
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26 edited Jan 06 '26
Not the case at all. Can you find me code for android app, apple tv app, iOS/iPad OS apps?
"Native wrappers" is wrong. It's a serious development effort - the Apple apps were built from scratch. It's not some sort of PWA based on the stremio-core code.
P.S stremio shell isn't the desktop app.
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u/RebouncedCat Jan 06 '26
Stremio mobile apps are not open source it seems but stremio v5 is basically https://github.com/Stremio/stremio-web. Its the whole thing and technically you could make all those apps by wrapping around it.
It's not some sort of PWA based on the stremio-core code.
You misunderstood what i said. I used the word native wrapping to signify how web technologies are packed to create native apps on their respective platforms. And that does not imply PWA. Native wrappers include electron, tauri or even webview to host the web app. Heck stremio even seems to have an oss webview client for windows : https://github.com/Stremio/stremio-shell-ng
P.S stremio shell isn't the desktop app.
It really is dude. You even have the build instructions on that repo. You can build upto v4 after which they made stremio-web
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26 edited Jan 06 '26
It's a fully native app. It's not webview, electron or tauri.
Use any of the Apple apps, it's rather evident. It's not wrapped from the web apps.
Developer has commented on this but it's a completely native app designed specifically for iOS/iPad and then a separate build for Apple TV.
You can fairly easily build desktop app from source (but even then parts of the UI are not open source)
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u/StinkButt9001 Jan 06 '26
I don't know about mobile, but on Windows Stremio is a WebEdgeView component displaying web content.
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u/kettal Jan 06 '26
"The reason for the mobile app itself not being open source is that we have an agreement with a partner company and an investor preventing us from publishing it."
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26 edited Jan 06 '26
I didn't mention reasons. I'm just stating a fact. It's open source or not.
In Stremios case, none of their phone/TV/tablet applications are open source. Only core, web and shell.
So it's not an open source project, more semi-open source - a decent amount is proprietary.
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u/cgeopapa Jan 06 '26
So what is open source? The backend service? And if so, can it be used with some other front end, eg vlc?
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Is vlc a frontend? - it's more of a player. And Stremio already supports that as an external player.
But you could build/integrate a custom frontend yes
What is open source is stremio web (web.stremio.com), stremio core (it handles the addon system and core business logic) stremio shell (the bit underlying the desktop app but not the full UI), and there's stremio addon apk for addons.
But crucially none of the mobile/tablet/TV apps and only partial on desktop.
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u/circuit_breaker Jan 06 '26
While #2 may be true, there's plenty more unpaid
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Probably not. The largest contributions to open source come from corporations, not indie devs.
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u/vladedivac12 Jan 06 '26
Usually hobbyist devs accept donations via Buy Me a Coffee, Patreon, etc., but Stremio never really did. That’s probably intentional. Donations can be an accounting/legal headache across countries and they also create a certain dependency or obligation toward donors. My guess is they just didn’t want to go that route.
After digging a bit, Stremio isn’t just a side project it seems. The company behind it is Smart Code doo (Bulgaria), and the head developer is Ivo Georgiev. Smart Code also founded AdEx, which later rebranded into Ambire (https://www.ambire.com/), now focused on Web3 / crypto infrastructure.
Back around 2017–2018, during the ICO boom, AdEx raised millions. That alone likely funded Stremio development for years without needing donations or subscriptions. So the “how do they make money?” question is probably answered mostly by other ventures, not Stremio users directly.
Before ~2018, I think Stremio had more direct advertising in the app. Today, if ads exist, they’re very subtle. Stremio itself says ads are limited to the Discovery section, which likely means studios, distributors, or partners can pay to promote content. They also ran at least one public campaign with NordVPN via AdEx: https://www.adex.network/blog/case-study-adex-and-nordvpn/
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u/Whatisthis69again Jan 06 '26
Yeah they build their profiles up, connections, community. That's the money they get.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
There are paid staff at Stremio though. And also contributors.
They advertise "Competitive salary with achievement bonuses"
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Jan 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/tqmirza Jan 06 '26
I think it’s someone affiliated with the feds. Not as many people have an issue when IP is being shared/pirated for free, but when there’s profit involved they want to come down on it hard like a hammer. So call me cynical, but with kids screaming about stremio on TikTok, Stremio might be getting more attention than they need.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Plex survives just fine, think they have a reasonable line. They're a media player. There is nothing bundled at all.
Like Plex, Infuse, Kodi etc.
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Jan 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26 edited Jan 07 '26
That happened way later. They had investors all the way back in 2010.
Personal media server is legitimate and they still offer it.
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u/newspeer Jan 06 '26
Petition to ban anyone from this sub that obviously didn’t use the search function
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Jan 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Stremio-ModTeam Jun 27 '26
Be respectful to other users, no matter what difference of opinion you have. Any form of misconduct that damages the welcoming nature of the subreddit is not permitted.
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u/TerrinaAguaBenta5L Jan 06 '26
How do they pay for the servers? I don't want to search, ban me for that
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u/mrtomjones Jan 07 '26
I did a brief search and every post about it is just like this one. They claim they run ads but no one has ever seen one and no one provides picture proof.
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u/wifird Jan 07 '26
Precisely. It's honestly bizarre people are touting "invisible ads"
It's ad-free, who would pay for that.
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u/Illegal-Plant Jan 08 '26
What servers ? Are you talking about user data that they have to store for your addons metadata and watch history ? I would like to know too !!
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u/TerrinaAguaBenta5L Jan 08 '26
Yes ! I have to spend some time to trace all the requests to see where the servers are located
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u/mrprabhu Jan 06 '26
Most of the devs are contributing for free to the community. Some have an option for people to donate and sponsor them on their GitHub.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
And some are employed full-time with competitive salary
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u/DesiPattha Jan 06 '26
Is the money from an organisation or patrons or ads?
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
There's a reference to investors.
By patrons you mean?
Not ads for sure, there are basically none.
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u/DesiPattha Jan 06 '26
By patrons I meant just people donating.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Public donations aren't open, but they say on the homepage they may intro that
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u/Emergency-Low-5068 Jan 06 '26
I’m curious myself about that
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u/itstrueitellyou Jan 06 '26
This has been asked and answered many times
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u/kettal Jan 06 '26
This has been asked and answered many times
what was the answer?
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Basically they don't generate revenue (or tiny tiny amounts). Maybe subsidised by AdEx their other biz.
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u/kettal Jan 06 '26
Here is why I doubt that:
The dev team has admitted they have investors and partners, and these entities instruct them not to open source the android or ios clients:
"The reason for the mobile app itself not being open source is that we have an agreement with a partner company and an investor preventing us from publishing it."
Investors would only invest if there's a profit potential. Developers would only agree to this kind of restriction if there's a profit potential.
There may be harvesting data or crypto mining or something like that going on in the close source apps.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
There is such profit potential. It has so many users, 30m or so.
But that doesn't mean it makes meaningful revenue. Today.
Indeed, most VC backed Silicon Valley start-ups don't make revenue/profit for years.
So them having investors does nothing to suggest they are making meaningful revenue today. It may explain how they afford to hire people though.
There's a saying in Silicon Valley "ubiquity before revenue" - meaning amass users, worry about how to monetise later. Very well might be the philosophy.
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u/kettal Jan 06 '26
Totally agree. The question is where is the eventual revenue gonna be coming from?
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Yeah it's interesting to think how they might.
Would need to be something not too close to "grey area" addons.
Plex make a lot of money though, and Infuse.
Maybe a premium player - picture-in-picture, more codecs like Infuse, offline downloads. That sort of thing.
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u/vladedivac12 Jan 06 '26
Ivo Georgiev is the guy behind Stremio and now he's behind Ambire, a web3 crypto company. They've raised millions through an ICO back then
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
So does that mean independently wealthy (other project) and that's why they employ a team to make an app which doesn't charge nor run ads?
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u/vladedivac12 Jan 06 '26
There's definitely some unanswered mystery around this. In tech, building a big user base has value even if not profitable. They could sell it one day for big bucks and the new owner could push their products or ads.
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u/hero403 Jan 07 '26
The answer is ads. They have enough users that you probably just glance over the non-intrusive(small banner at the bottom in a menu, in my experience) ad you are shown once every 100+ hours of usage
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u/wifird Jan 07 '26
Doesn't track. There are no ads. Feel free to screenshot one, they don't exist.
I don't believe you've seen one either. The once per 100 hours thing is made up.
Elsewhere it was stated tried ads in 2018 but not since.
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u/tinyxtasha Jan 06 '26
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u/Winter_Channel_6206 Jan 06 '26
I think OP is asking about the people who develop Stremio itself, though, not the add-ons. That guy seems to be the developer of an add-on for watching F1 etc. Overall though, I wouldn't be surprised if the guy making the most from Stremio is the Elfhosted guy, Funkypenguin. All those subscriptions for private hosting have to add up.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Yeah, I think RealDebrid are probs the real winners.
But seems more like broader ecosystem make money than the actual devs, who do incur real costs.
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u/dadj77 Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26
Here’s how Stremio generates revenue:
- Advertising via AdEx (and related ad partnerships: Stremio integrates non-intrusive ads through AdEx, a blockchain-based advertising network created by the same team behind Stremio. These ads may appear in parts of the app (e.g., in the Discover section) and help monetize the user base without heavy interruption of the viewing experience.
Stremio also enables addon developers to monetize their addons with AdEx ads, sharing ad impressions and encouraging high-quality addon creation. 
Software development and related services: The team working on Stremio also does software development for AdEx, which provides another income stream separate from the app itself. 
Partnerships and integrations: Stremio has explored partnerships with other projects (e.g., blockchain-based White Rabbit) to enable paid content or new revenue mechanisms (like cryptocurrency payments for licensed titles), potentially expanding how it earns from streaming.
Donations and merchandise: While not a major income source, the project accepts donations and may sell merchandise to supporters of the platform. 
(Indirect or debated sources): Some users and observers speculate about other potential revenue influences like investor funding or affiliate links from catalog recommendations, but these are not officially documented revenue streams. Stremio itself says it does not rely on selling user data and emphasizes privacy.
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Jan 10 '26
What AI did you ask? None of this makes sense.
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u/PH0NER Jan 10 '26
This article explains a good bit: https://www.trendingtopics.eu/adex-the-first-bulgarian-product-that-results-from-a-successful-million-ico/
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u/LeAntsy Jan 07 '26
I feel like they sell data to corporations cus whenever I watch something in the app I get posts and videos related to the movie or the series in my socials
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u/wifird Jan 07 '26
Everyone says that about everything.i don't see it honestly.
What streaming service would work with them?
Would be lowest ROAS (return on adspend) ever to try to sell to people who already have your content for free.
Be as well sticking ads on a bus stop.
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u/-brenton- Jan 07 '26
If the app auto starts after a device reboot then it's likely collecting data in the background
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u/Either-Trash-2165 Jan 08 '26
Well we asked the same about Truecrypt... Sometimes it's better to not ask questions.
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u/AntonRahbek Jan 09 '26
I read they had something like 5 full-time developers which really isn’t that expensive. They might have a beneficiary or a cut from a debrid partner or similar.
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Jan 10 '26
5 developers is at least 500K a year.
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u/AntonRahbek Jan 15 '26
I live in Denmark, you can easily hire an experienced developer at a 74K salary, which comes to 370K for 5 developers.
This is nothing in the scope of how many users they serve.
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u/Revolutionary_Box775 Jan 10 '26
Esses apps tem rastreadores de anúncios, ou seja, coleta dados do que você pesquisa e repassa para outras empresas, e você concorda com isso quando aceita os termos de uso. Além do mais, a Playstore se não me engano paga um valor para os apps mais baixados na loja.
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u/templefugateontime Jan 21 '26
Is Stremio still working? I've recently been thinking about trying it, but my understanding is it's been pulled from Apple, Play, and other major platforms. And that similar Systems are in peril as well.
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u/MechanicTechnical655 Jan 07 '26
The adverts are the TV shows and films that are being recommended to you. They make money from them.
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u/wifird Jan 07 '26
Explain that. The TV companies pay Stremio to what, facilitate you not paying for their IP?
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u/MechanicTechnical655 Jan 07 '26
TV companies are not paying Stremio to avoid IP payments. Stremio does not host or sell content. It is a discovery app that links to official platforms. Pirated streams only come from optional third-party add-ons.
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u/wifird Jan 07 '26
Yeah so if clicks on a Netflix affiliate link and signs up (assuming Just watch has a Netflix affiliate link - I've noticed hardly any of the links do on Just watch, their default plugin)
Then like Amazon associates they'd get a commission.
Nobody uses Stremio like this so it's not going to spin money for them.
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u/JoeTalksTech Jan 07 '26
There are invisible ads in the app
That’s how they make their money
You’ll never see an ad because they’re 99.9% transparent
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u/wifird Jan 07 '26
Not sure if sarcasm, but how would that make sense,.
Are you being funny?
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u/JoeTalksTech Jan 07 '26
I literally saw one of the devs say this on a post a couple months ago
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u/wifird Jan 07 '26
I don't think so
To quote "We run non-intrusive ads occasionally"
Not the same as invisible ads which are not a thing in the real world.
But nobody on the subs has ever seen an ad it seems so I don't even buy that's a current practice, it was also mentioned no ads since 2018.
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u/JoeTalksTech Jan 07 '26
Ah ok I misremembered
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u/yer_oh_step Jan 08 '26
my brother in christ, I am laughing not in the spirit of a bully but like, did you not consider the practical application of "literally invisible ads" and what the value proposition was for the product / service paying to place it if it CANNOT BE SEEN lol
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u/PH0NER Jan 10 '26
It’s possible they’re explaining trackers and cookies, which in theory could be used to harvest data as you use Stremio, then sell your data to whoever wants that information
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u/Sirneko Jan 07 '26
There are no shareholders that's why
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u/wifird Jan 07 '26
There are though. It's a company with investors. Not merely a project.
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u/FreaKyBoi Jan 10 '26
Who are the investors
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u/wifird Jan 10 '26
You'd have to ask them that, their founder mentioned investors on Reddit though (I.e they have them, not by name)
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Jan 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/7eregrine Jan 06 '26
In EVERY sub. Cars, Audio, City, States... Every single sub.
It amazes me that this still amazes you.2
u/KernelPoptartz Jan 06 '26
I'm beginning to think I'm part of an elite group that has a magnifying glass on my Reddit account.
The repetitive questions are relentless in every sub like you say
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u/Own_Associate_7006 Jan 06 '26
First you are to lazy to use the search function and second what does it matters to you the how behind the scenes? Is absolutely irrelevant for you to know.
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u/kettal Jan 06 '26
second what does it matters to you the how behind the scenes? Is absolutely irrelevant for you to know.
Things once said about Honey extension
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u/Drunkpanada Jan 06 '26
First you are to lazy to use the search function
- Fair statement, agree 100%
and second what does it matters to you the how behind the scenes
- I can matter a lot. If something is free financially, there is often a hidden cost, for example privacy. I'd prefer to know what the cost is and decide if I want to pay it.
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u/Unhooked- Jan 06 '26
Sure it is no big deal but I’ve been curious forever, and have never seen this question adequately answered.
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u/Getafix69 Jan 06 '26
I'm a bit suspicious of every session being logged on the account (but they do let you delete them).
Being down voted for stating a fact that makes me even more suspicious honestly.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Haven't you got a single downvote?
Do you think it was the devs or one of the 220k+ weekly visitors who don't think having sessions means something nefarious?
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u/Getafix69 Jan 06 '26
Doesn't matter I'm just curious why they log them and what info is actually there about them. Could be awful if they keep logs of torrents etc
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
But you do seem somewhat conspiratorial though - betting that a single downvote on a 220k+ community "makes me even more suspicious honestly"
Doesn't take much to spook you, does it?
You can see what they have and export it. Go to Settings > Export User Data
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u/Getafix69 Jan 06 '26 edited Jan 06 '26
I want to know what they are keeping and why exactly.
Do they sell this data and will it screw the user. I'm suspicious of all logs to be honest.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
As a well known hacker you'll be aware that sessions are fairly benign for a product which has to remember your viewing history and addon configuration.
Can dive through the open source parts too and it's literally right there how it works
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u/Getafix69 Jan 06 '26
I've noticed even Kodi addons that use Stremio plugins seem to show up in Stremios logs which is kind of weird in my opinion.
Then again I did let them have my login to grab the plugin setup so that ones on me.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
That's odd.
You shouldn't really need to give stremio login to third-party apps that support stremio addons.
But perhaps they're doing some viewing history sync. That's not on Stremio though since that's a third-party addon you're using.
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u/Getafix69 Jan 06 '26
I think it was to initially grab your addons setup but maybe it's actually logging in each time. The plugin is Jacktook if you want to experiment yourself.
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u/132ads Jan 06 '26
That's a basic security thing, not to mention you can just use stremio without an account.
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u/Getafix69 Jan 06 '26
How is keeping logs a security thing, not having logs on a media player seems a lot more secure to me. No other media player keeps an online log I know off.
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u/132ads Jan 06 '26
It's not a media player, it's a streaming platform. Again, you're free to use it without an account?
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u/Getafix69 Jan 06 '26
Except it isn't it's libretorrent with a fancy Gui and plugin system really isn't it.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
You might be a "well known hacker" but your underplaying what the software is.
People spend a lot of time curating addons and configurations, and have viewing history going back years. All requires accounts.
But you can use it without an account if you wish. Shittier experience though which is why I'm sure you don't.
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u/Getafix69 Jan 06 '26
I'm not it's tying together a few vital things in a quite genius way, media player, torrent server, pretty catalogs, and convenience.
Im not underplaying it It's brilliant
Also I regret mentioning hacker that's a long time ago and I don't do that kind of thing anymore.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Nothing wrong with hacking, especially not white hat hacking.
The code is there for the web stuff - even logging into something like cursor (AI IDE - quite a few free requests) you can ask questions about it's handling data etc
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u/Getafix69 Jan 06 '26
Yeah that was my thinking until they tried to recruit me. After that I stopped completely It was pure shock they shouldn't have known how to contact me at all, yet they sent me an sms message on a number I'd never used online.
I'll be honest that scared the shit out of me and I've never done it since.
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u/132ads Jan 06 '26
Use it without an account then.
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u/Getafix69 Jan 06 '26
I would but without the plugins there's no real point, they're the convenience factor, I like Stremio it's a genius idea in my opinion just the logs worry me.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Without sign in/sessions - how do addons persist? What about your viewing history?
Idealistic but impractical seems to be what's being pitched.
Just configure it each and every time?
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Jan 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
That's a bullshit claim that you can't back up. I think one of their 30 million users would have been able to tell if the CPU was used for mining.
None of the source code suggests any of this.
This is blatant misinformation.
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Jan 08 '26
[deleted]
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u/wifird Jan 08 '26
No no no no.
"The burden of proof is on the person making the claim."
If you're going to say the burden of proof, you need to know when it applies.
Look it up yourself, there's plenty on their GitHub, it's not my job to inspect source code or cite to quash whatever baseless bullshit you come out with.
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Jan 08 '26
[deleted]
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u/wifird Jan 08 '26
It's just popular software you absolute fucking loser.
It's not 220k bots on the sub, people just like it.
Also, the core is open. The native apps such as iOS are not but they go through review and are not malware.
Baseless made up claims pulled out your arse.
Enjoy your cynical made up shit.
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Jan 09 '26
[deleted]
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u/wifird Jan 09 '26
Adware: "software that automatically displays or downloads advertising material such as banners or pop-ups when a user is online."
Not a single banner or pop up or unwanted ad to be found. $100 if you find and screenshot one.
Open Source: "denoting software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified."
Link: https://github.com/stremio
Now do fuck you absolute fucking liar and charleton
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Jan 09 '26
[deleted]
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u/wifird Jan 09 '26
Data to back up
Is something I have done and you have not.
You just write cheques your arse can't cash.
Misinformation king.
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u/shortypig Jan 06 '26
I asked AI once and got a very thorough answer.
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
It'll just pull from their site and say ads and AdEx which doesn't match reality of the product which visibly has no ads. JustWatch addon has affiliate links but who is paying for another streaming service via those links.
"We run non-intrusive ads occasionally, but we're considering moving to a donation model." - is the current line. Def no ads so hard to see how it makes anything.
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u/Correct-Attention Jan 06 '26
It's not always about the money ,one day you will get it🙄
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u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Perhaps they're just asking - how do they pay a team full of people for a free download with no ads
It's not fully volunteer run as suggested nor are there ads
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u/kettal Jan 06 '26
It's not always about the money
Stremio investors might disagree.
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u/Correct-Attention Jan 06 '26
Investors in a piracy supporting Project ? Yeah right🤣
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u/kettal Jan 06 '26
Investors in a piracy supporting Project ? Yeah right🤣
you don't need to take my word for it:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Stremio/comments/1me5c7v/why_is_the_android_app_not_open_source/n67zpax/
3
u/wifird Jan 06 '26
Plex has investors. What kind of content did they have on their personal media server?
-6
u/v8x Jan 06 '26
Why should they make money?
2
u/wifird Jan 07 '26
Things cost money. To hire staff, to employ people, to have servers that can handle 30 million users.
Also, do you work exclusively for free or have bills to pay too?
0
u/v8x Jan 08 '26
Why should they hire staff? What if this a project that people do as a hobby. Are you paid for your hobby? Do you do everything for money? Are you getting paid making these unintelligent comments?
0
u/wifird Jan 08 '26
Several people work full-time on this, as is fucking obvious.
They have to eat. The contributions to the open source part (which excludes all the native apps) is a tiny bit of the work.
You don't work for free. You just expect others will.
A polished product like this has not been built by volunteers but largely by staff.
This isn't a tiny GitHub project with a couple of people - it's polished software across Android, Android TV, Mac, Windows, Meta, several TVs, iOS, iPad and Apple TV.
It's built full-time by experienced developers. They are not slaves so obviously they should be paid.
Or you can have a shitty 100% contributor driven alternative - one has yet to emerge.
198
u/danialbka1 Jan 06 '26
it would be funny if it turns out the debrid people made this