The app ecosystem argument is totally valid, yeah. Paying to get access to that makes sense if you and the people you are sharing with benefit from that.
I guess I view the server-side as mostly fungible, because me and all the people I share with are more technical, have a separate media player (Apple TV etc), and are either light users content with the Jellyfin app, or use a third-party app like Infuse on iOS. I look at the media server software as more like a "media fileshare with metadata and easy user management", but I get why that's not the case for everyone.
I guess I view the server-side as mostly fungible, because me and all the people I share with are more technical, have a separate media player (Apple TV etc), and are either light users content with the Jellyfin app, or use a third-party app like Infuse on iOS. I look at the media server software as more like a "media fileshare with metadata and easy user management", but I get why that's not the case for everyone.