Basement vs Plex

Both serve your own media to your TVs and phones. Here's where they differ, checked against Plex's own plans page.

Basement and Plex, row by row
Feature	Basement	Plex
Price	Free. Every feature, no paid tier.	The server and app are free on your home network. Remote streaming needs a Remote Watch Pass or Plex Pass subscription. ^source
Hardware transcoding	Included. Uses NVENC, Intel or Apple hardware when it's there.	Part of Plex Pass. ^source
Downloads to a phone	Included, with a storage cap and auto-delete.	Part of Plex Pass. ^source
Skip intro and credits	Included, found by comparing episodes.	Part of Plex Pass. ^source
Live TV and recording	Live TV from your tuner or IPTV playlist. It can't record yet.	Plex has Live TV and an Ultimate TV & DVR plan to watch and record broadcast TV. ^source
Free streaming from the company	None. Basement only plays what you own.	Plex offers its own free streaming service. ^source

Last checked November 9, 2026.