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Starter – Personal Media Streamer [2xHD / 1x4K, contended]
$29.00 / month with a 7-day free trial and a $1.00 sign-up fee
The starter pack for self-hosters who’ve had enough Docker.
Starter is the entry point into ElfHosted’s Personal Media Stack range — a managed media server, library automation, and your choice of cloud storage provider, all preconfigured and stitched together. Built for one or two users on shared hardware.
The starter pack for self-hosters who've had enough Docker.
What is Starter?
Starter is the entry point into ElfHosted's Personal Media Stack range — a managed media server, library automation, and your choice of cloud storage provider, all preconfigured and stitched together. Built for one or two users on shared hardware.
Everything is preconfigured and pre-connected: pick your variation choices in the dropdowns, ElfHosted provisions the matching stack, and you start streaming. No Docker compose, no rclone mounts, no reverse proxy.
Configure your stack at checkout: pick your media player, automation tooling, and cloud storage provider from the variation dropdowns above. Each combination provisions a tailored bundle.
How Starter Configures
Starter is a variable-subscription bundle. Pick one option from each of the three variation dropdowns and ElfHosted provisions the matching stack:
- 🎬 Media Player: Plex, Emby, or Jellyfin — all available, switch any time.
- 🛠️ Media Automation: Radarr / Sonarr (the classic *arr-stack workflow), Seerrbridge (a streamlined alternative), or "Other" if you'd rather configure your own.
- ☁️ Cloud Storage Provider: RealDebrid (BYO subscription), TorBox (BYO), NzbDAV (with a bundled Usenet/NNTP account included), or "Other" to bring something else.
- 📺 2xHD or 1x4K concurrent streams on contended hardware, regardless of variation choices.
- 💾 No storage limits: your library lives in your debrid account or comes through your chosen Usenet path — you're never paying us for terabytes.
Starter vs other tiers
Starter is the entry-level full-stack tier in the range — a managed Plex/Jellyfin/Emby plus the *arr suite plus content integration, all preconfigured.
- Lighter alternatives: Jellygoblin (Jellyfin-only, no *arr stack) or Zurgling (manual DMM/Zurg setup with RealDebrid, no *arr stack).
- If contended hardware causes transcoding hiccups or you share with multiple users, step up to Hobbit (semi-dedicated, 4xHD/2x4K, hardware transcoding).
Why Run Your Media Stack on ElfHosted?
Self-hosting a media server plus automation tools plus a debrid or Usenet integration plus reverse proxy plus authentication plus monitoring is the kind of project that's fun for two weeks and a maintenance burden for the next three years.
- No Docker compose to maintain, no rclone mounts to debug, no NGINX configs to remember.
- No "automation can't reach indexer" or "library scan stalled" troubleshooting at 11pm.
- Updates handled automatically across whichever combination you picked — media server, automation, storage provider.
- No storage cap to outgrow — your library lives in your debrid account or comes through your Usenet provider, not our disks.
- PlexPass / Emby Premiere (if your variation needs one) and your debrid subscription stay yours; everything else lives with us.
Need help configuring quality profiles, indexer connections, or share invites? Our VIP "White-Glove" Onboarding Experience add-on (purchased separately) gets you 1:1 expert configuration.
Technical Specifications
- 📺 Concurrent streams: 2xHD or 1x4K (Contended)
- 🎬 Media Player options: Plex, Emby, Jellyfin
- 🛠️ Media Automation options: Radarr/Sonarr, Seerrbridge, Other
- ☁️ Cloud Storage Provider options: RealDebrid, TorBox, NzbDAV (with bundled Usenet), Other
- 💾 Library storage: via your chosen provider — not stored on ElfHosted
- ⚡ Transcoding: Not supported — direct play only (content must be in a format your client device plays natively)
Frequently Asked Questions
Which combination should I pick?
Defaults: Plex + Radarr/Sonarr + RealDebrid suits most users. Pick Jellyfin if you want to skip PlexPass; pick NzbDAV if you'd rather use Usenet (a Usenet account is bundled with that variation); pick Seerrbridge if you want a simpler automation workflow than the full *arr stack.
Does Starter include a debrid subscription?
Only the NzbDAV variation includes anything bundled (a Usenet/NNTP account). RealDebrid and TorBox variations are BYO — bring your own subscription.
Can I switch variations later?
Yes — switching the media player, automation, or storage provider is supported but requires reprovisioning that part of the stack. Contact support to coordinate.
Do I need a Plex or Emby subscription on top?
Depends on your media player choice:
- Plex: remote streaming requires a PlexPass or Remote Play Pass — that's a Plex requirement, not ElfHosted's.
- Emby: remote streaming requires an Emby Premiere subscription — also Emby's requirement, not ours.
- Jellyfin: no extra subscription. Fully free and open-source for remote streaming, hardware transcoding, the lot.
Where does my library live?
Wherever your chosen Cloud Storage Provider keeps it. ElfHosted runs the apps and metadata; the actual media is held by your debrid (RealDebrid / TorBox) or Usenet (NzbDAV) provider. We don't sell terabytes.
What does "Contended" hardware mean?
Contended hardware is shared with other users on the same node. Plenty for typical personal use, but heavy concurrent 4K transcodes may see throttling.
Starter is the entry point into ElfHosted's Personal Media Stack range — a real managed media server, your choice of automation, and your choice of cloud storage provider. Step up to Hobbit when contended hardware starts to bite.
| Media Player | Plex, Emby, Jellyfin |
|---|---|
| Media Automation | Radarr / Sonarr |
| Cloud Storage Provider | RealDebrid, Usenet, TorBox |
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
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Zurgling – Personal Media Streamer [2xHD / 1x4K, contended, manual]
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JellyGoblin – Personal Media Streamer [2xHD / 1x4K, contended]
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MediaStorm 4K
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Halfling – Personal Media Streamer [16xHD / 8x4K, semi-dedicated]
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Halfling is the high-capacity end of the semi-dedicated tier — 16 simultaneous HD streams or 8 4K streams, designed for sizable shared libraries and content-shares with friends. The same configurable Personal Media Stack as the smaller tiers (your choice of media player, automation, and cloud storage provider) on hardware that's reserved but not exclusive.
Tubeling [Curated YouTube Collection]
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Tubeling is a hosted YouTube archiver paired with your choice of Plex, Emby, or Jellyfin. Pick channels, Tubeling pulls new uploads automatically and writes them to your own rclone-mounted cloud storage (Google Drive, S3, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.). Your media server reads from the same mount and serves the videos to any device — TV, phone, tablet, browser — without ever opening youtube.com.
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