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+-- Forum: Support (https://forum.jellyfin.org/f-support)
+--- Forum: General Questions (https://forum.jellyfin.org/f-general-questions)
+--- Thread: How to get around Dynamic IP? (/t-how-to-get-around-dynamic-ip)
How to get around Dynamic IP? - Imnotabot4reelz - 2025-01-17
I am trying to decide if I want to go Jelly Route or Plex route. I like the idea of Jellyfin... open source, free, etc. Not sending all the data to plex servers.
BUT, the main drawback that I can't wrap my head around is the fact that your IP changes, and Jellyfin breaks when this happens. Then whenever I read up on how to solve this... people are like(paraphrasing)
All you need to do is do a double reverse proxy which costs $10/month forever, then you triple axle flip through cloudfare, then firewall port forward 15 times which costs $5/month in perpetuity, then you just buy a domain for $8/month in perpetuity, and throw it all together. EZ pz.
I'm wondering if there is a free way to deal with this. Or an easy way, that doesn't involve all these steps people mention, that I have no clue what they're talking about. I'm willing to learn. But I don't like the idea of having to pay costs in perpetuity, unless they are very low. I'd much rather just do a one time fee to buy plex lifetime pass, than to have monthly fees I am paying for the next 40 years of my life.
Anyway, if someone could explain to me the easiest, cheapest way to fix this problem so that I can simply have remote users sign up once, then be set for life, that'd be great. Otherwise, unfortunately I think I might have to go with Plex(or just give up entirely, because I really don't want to do plex).
RE: How to get around Dynamic IP? - kandykarter - 2025-01-17
The easiest way is to just buy a cheap domain name from somewhere like porkbun, and then use a dynamic DNS client (there's lots, I use a dockerized version of porkbun-ddns) which will sync your current public IP with the domain name.
But a reverse proxy is a good idea so you can avoid forwarding a bunch of ports for services on your router, and many of them can pull SSL certificates. There's a lot of pretty user-friendly ways to do that these days, like Cosmos-Cloud for example.
RE: How to get around Dynamic IP? - Imnotabot4reelz - 2025-01-17
And how much a month does this cost if I took the time to try to understand any of what you're saying? I just don't want to waste the time if all this stuff added up is above my budget.
RE: How to get around Dynamic IP? - Efficient_Good_5784 - 2025-01-17
If you want free, check out Tailscale. It's a mesh VPN service that has a free tier.
It's as easy as installing Tailscale onto your Jellyfin server, then the Tailscale app onto your remote devices to connect the two together.
It's free up to 3 users in your tailnet.
RE: How to get around Dynamic IP? - Imnotabot4reelz - 2025-01-17
So if it's free why wouldn't everyone do this? And if I use tailscale, I don't have to pay for ANYTHING else on a monthly basis? How much does it cost if I want more than 3 users?
Also, so now I have to install a jellyfin app, AND a tailscale app on my Apple TV is htat what you're saying? Then tailscale runs automatically without having to do anything? Or is it something that an 80 year old would have to be messing around with, on top of the separate jellyfin app?
thanks for the help.
RE: How to get around Dynamic IP? - Efficient_Good_5784 - 2025-01-17
https://tailscale.com/pricing?plan=personal
The money Tailscale makes is in the business world, so their pricing reflects that.
You can pay $5 USD each month to get up to 6 people in your Tailnet.
You can however share a device in your Tailnet with as much people as you want.
All you have to do is make sure the Tailscale app is installable on your device and that it's running in the background.
Not much else to do other than those two things.
RE: How to get around Dynamic IP? - pxr5 - 2025-01-17
Totally free DNS
https://www.dynu.com/en-US
https://www.duckdns.org/
A free reverse proxy Caddy:
https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-access-your-jellyfin-anywhere-with-caddy
With those 2 things (along with a DNS Client that can update your IP automatically - which are free) you can access your Jellyfin remotely and securely).
Personally I use Dynu and Caddy.