Opportunities › Remote media server access licensing › Proposed app
Hearthgate
One flat fee for remote access to your media server. Guests never pay.
- Score
- 26
- confidence 46
- Evidence
- 3
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 2
- named in sources
- First version
- 45 d
- estimate
- Type
- Desktop and mobile
- PWA: on computers and phones alike
- Market since
- 2008
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Desktop and mobile: Owner manages server and invites at a desk, while guests access media on phones, tablets and TVs depending on where they want to watch. Sample screens on a computer and a phone, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
Guests
All guests free6 guests
About this appAI proposal
Hearthgate is a remote access gateway for self-hosted media servers. You install a small connector next to your server, and Hearthgate gives you a secure address and a guest portal that works as an installable web app on phones, tablets and TV browsers.
You pay one subscription. Friends and family you invite watch remotely at no charge, with no per-guest pass. This answers a complaint in the material: guests are charged $30/year to reach a server whose owner already pays for the server and infrastructure.
It is built for owners who run a server such as Jellyfin and want sharing to be simple. Hearthgate handles access, invites and limits. It does not supply or host any media.
- Tagline
- Open the door once. Everyone you invite walks in free.
- Voice
- WarmPlainFair
- Why this name
- A hearth is where people gather and a gate is how they get in. The name says: shared home, simple way in.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Flat owner pricing, free guests
One subscription covers remote access for every guest you invite, up to a cap shown plainly in the app. No per-guest passes.
No member yet
Invite by link
Send a link or QR code. Guests open the portal in a browser and install it as an app. They only need to give a name.
No member yet
Connector in one command
A small container sits next to your server and opens an outbound secure tunnel. No router port forwarding needed.
No member yet
Guest controls
Choose which libraries each guest sees, set a stream limit per guest, and pause or remove access in one tap.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#1F5C5ADeep Teal · primary#F6F1E7Warm Cream · surface#1F2A2ESlate Ink · text#E0803ALamp Amber · accent#8A3B2EBrick · data and alerts
Typography
Aa
Hearthgate
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789
Open the door once. Everyone you invite walks in free.
PricingAI proposal
The material gives one competitor price: Plex charges guests $30/year for Remote Watch Pass. It gives no owner price for this product. These tiers are a starting point to test, not a costed plan.
Starter
Free
- 1 guest
- Connector and guest portal
- Fair-use relay limit
Household
$4 a month
- Up to 10 guests, all free
- Guest controls and stream limits
- Usage view
- 1000 GB relay a month
Household Year
$40 a year
- Everything in Household
- Two months free
Extended
$9 a month
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- Users invite others. Each owner invites friends and family through links. Guests open the portal under the Hearthgate name and see how easy sharing is. Some guests run their own servers.
- Do they become customers?
- Guests see the product for free, so only the share who host their own server could become owners. Test what share of invited guests start a server and sign up.
- First customers
- Hobbyist Jellyfin owners who share a home server with five to ten relatives or friends, and are unhappy with per-guest fees on other platforms.
- Where to reach them
- Self-hosting forums: Post a transparent comparison of owner cost versus per-guest passes in Jellyfin and self-hosted communities, and invite testers.
- Hacker News launch: Share the product with the threads where remote access pricing is already being discussed.
- First milestone
- Twenty owners on a waitlist pilot, with ten paying for three months and at least four guests each.
Why people already pay for this
- Public claimPlex's Lifetime pass price increase is deterring customers and pushing them toward alternative pricing plans or competitors
- Public claimThe Remote Watch Pass charging model is unclear to users, with some not receiving complaints from guests who access servers without passes
- Public claimPlex charges guests $30/year to access someone else's server remotely, even though the server owner already pays for regular subscription and infrastructure
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · Secure tunnel relayWireGuard-based relay servers with NAT traversalCarries guest streams to servers behind home routers when a direct connection fails.
- This app · Connector agentSmall Docker container for home serversOpens the outbound tunnel and checks the server is reachable.
RisksAI inference
- CommercialRelayed video bandwidth may cost more than a flat fee brings in for heavy users. Margins depend on direct connections and caps, which must be tested early.
- PlatformThe product depends on the media server software's guest access and API. Changes in Jellyfin or others could break the guest portal or sign-in.
- RegulatoryA relay could carry unlicensed content. Terms of use, abuse handling and takedown processes are needed, and the legal position should be reviewed.
- TechnicalStreaming through home networks with strict NAT, and playback in a browser app on TVs, varies a lot. Some setups will need the relay or fail.
- CommercialThe evidence is public claims from one forum. Owners may prefer free DIY tunnels, so willingness to pay is unproven.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.