Yamsap compared with Plexamp.
Plexamp is the best music player Plex has ever shipped, and for one listener with headphones it is hard to argue with free. The comparison gets interesting when the music has to fill a house, and when you add up what the good parts actually cost.
The short version.
Use Plexamp if
- You already run Plex for films and television, so the server is running anyway.
- You listen on Android, or in a car with Android Auto.
- Your server is a NAS, or it has to run on Windows.
- You listen alone, mostly on headphones, and the free tier covers what you do.
- You want TIDAL folded into the same library as your own files.
Buy yamsap if
- Music is the point, not the quiet tab next to the films.
- Music plays in more than one room, or you would like it to.
- You want the library to read like a record collection: booklets, composers, the label on the sleeve.
- You want the house to work with no account signed in and the internet unplugged.
- You would rather pay a small known amount than reason about a lifetime price that went from $119.99 to $249.99 to $749.99 in two years.
Side by side.
Plex’s figures are the ones it publishes, as of September 2026. Plexamp itself is free; the rows note where a feature needs the Plex Pass subscription behind it.
| yamsap | Plexamp | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $6.99 a month, or $5.99 billed yearly | Player is free; the headline features need Plex Pass, $6.99 a month, $69.99 a year, or $749.99 once |
| Trial | 14 days | The free tier |
| Plays music you own | Yes | Yes |
| Built as | A music server, and nothing else | A music player on a video server |
| Reads your files without writing to them | Yes | Yes |
| Account | None at home | Plex account sign-in |
| Rooms grouped in sync | Yes | One output at a time |
| Mixes from your own records | Yes, rebuilt nightly on your machine | Yes, with Plex Pass; its sonic analysis also runs on your server |
| Booklets, composers, label pages | Yes | No |
| Streaming services folded in | Not yet | TIDAL |
| Listening away from home | Yes, part of the subscription | A paid feature since 2025 |
| Offline downloads on the phone | Not yet | Yes, with Plex Pass |
| Phone app | iPhone and iPad, with CarPlay | iOS and Android, with CarPlay and Android Auto |
| Server runs on | macOS, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux, and most NAS boxes |
Where Plexamp is genuinely better.
Reach. It runs on Android and in cars with Android Auto, its server installs on nearly anything including the NAS you already own, and its free tier is a real product rather than a demo. If you listen alone and your library is well tagged, you can be happy without paying anyone.
The sonic analysis behind its mixes is mature and, like ours, runs on your own server. And if your household already runs Plex for video, adding your music to it costs nothing but a scan.
Where we think we are better.
Music is the whole job. Plexamp is a very good player attached to a video server, and it inherits that server’s shape: a required account, remote listening sold separately since 2025, and a company whose attention is mostly on films. Yamsap has one product and this is it.
The house is the other difference. Plexamp plays to one output at a time; yamsap makes every speaker, computer, phone and browser a zone, grouped in sync or playing four different records in four rooms. And the library goes deeper than tags: booklet scans, works filed under their composers, every record a label pressed on one page.
How that works, or the same comparison against Roon and Audirvana.
Hear when yamsap is ready
Yamsap is $6.99 a month, or $5.99 paid yearly, after a 14 day trial. Builds for macOS, Linux and iOS are close. Join the waitlist and you’ll hear when yours is ready.
Check availability and join the waitlist