Comparison

Cinero vs Media Stack

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Cinero

Features
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Cinero is a local-first companion app for browsing your own movies and series and controlling playback on Cinero Screen. Pair with a TV on your local network, browse your library, open movie and series details, choose tracks, and start playback from the couch. Cinero can also connect to supported private media sources that you configure. Cinero does not use a Cinero account, advertising SDK, or Cinero-operated analytics backend.

About

Media Stack

Features
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Run your whole media stack from your iPhone or iPad. Managerr connects to your own Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, Prowlarr, Jackett, Bazarr, Seerr, Tautulli, Jellyfin and Emby servers and brings them together in one native app. YOUR STACK AT A GLANCE • Arrange a Dashboard of health, upcoming releases, downloads, requests and what’s playing • See upcoming episodes, films and albums in a month or list calendar • Follow every download from every server in one queue • Search all your libraries at once, with filters, in a grid or a list SONARR, RADARR AND LIDARR • Add series, films and artists with the profile, folder and tags you want • Choose what to monitor, down to a single season, episode or album • Search automatically, or compare releases and pick one yourself • Find what’s missing or below your quality cutoff, and search for all of it at once • Remove a stuck download, blocklist it or mark it failed • Check history, health and disk space, and run scheduled tasks, RSS syncs and backups PROWLARR AND JACKETT • Search every indexer at once, and send a release to a download client or to Sonarr, Radarr or Lidarr • Add, edit, test and remove indexers, and see which ones report errors • Turn Prowlarr indexers on or off, edit them, and manage apps and download clients BAZARR • Find the episodes and films that lack subtitles, and search for them • See each title’s subtitles, search manually, download or delete one • Manage providers and language profiles, and check history and tasks SEERR • Discover trending, popular and upcoming films and series, with filters • Get recommendations from what’s been watched, through Tautulli • Request a film, a series, chosen seasons or a whole collection, in standard or 4K • Approve, decline, edit or retry requests from one inbox • Report, discuss and resolve issues • Sync your Plex, Jellyfin or Emby library and run jobs TAUTULLI AND PLEX • See who’s watching on Plex, on which device, and whether the stream transcodes • Stop a stream (requires Plex Pass) • Search playback history • Explore statistics and graphs, and browse your Plex libraries JELLYFIN AND EMBY • See what’s playing and why a stream transcodes • Pause, stop or seek a stream, change its audio or subtitles, or message the viewer • Browse, search and scan your libraries, and see what’s new • Fix a title’s metadata and artwork, see who watched it, and mark it watched or unwatched • Add users, and choose each user’s libraries and streaming limits • Sign out devices, run tasks, read logs, make Jellyfin backups and restart the server EVERY TITLE, EVERY SERVER • Title pages bring together cast, trailers, ratings, release dates, files and subtitles • A title on more than one server, such as an HD and a 4K Radarr, links to each one ON YOUR HOME SCREEN • Widgets for upcoming releases, the download queue, what’s playing and your services (Pro) • Optional alerts for grabs, finished downloads, upgrades, new titles, streams, requests and service problems, and reminders before a release • Shortcuts that open the Dashboard, Queue, Calendar, Requests or a library search • Light and dark appearances, colour themes (Pro), Dynamic Type and an adaptive iPad sidebar PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No ads, subscriptions or Managerr account • Your servers are saved only on your device, and API keys stay in the device-only Keychain • Back up your setup, with API keys sealed by a passphrase only you know FREE TO START, PRO TO GROW • Up to three services free, with every screen and action for each • Managerr Pro is one purchase, not a subscription: every service you run, widgets and colour themes • Downloaded Managerr before Pro? It’s already yours Try every feature, Pro included, in the offline demo. No server needed. Managerr requires your own supported services and does not supply, host or play media. Some actions depend on each service’s version, capabilities and permissions. Widgets and alerts use what the app last fetched; there is no push service.

Screenshots

Cinero4 screens
Media Stack4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Cinero at none against Media Stack's 1. Cinero also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). Media Stack's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Media Stack sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Cinero asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cinero ships an update every 3 weeks, Media Stack every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 3 level
Cinero versus Media Stack: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCineroMedia Stack
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size47 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWegel Corp.Mann Badal

In-app purchases

None

Cinero

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Media Stack

One-time1
  • Managerr Pro$14.99

Questions

Is Cinero free?
Cinero is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Media Stack free?
Media Stack is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Cinero or Media Stack have ads?
Neither Cinero nor Media Stack shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cinero or Media Stack?
Cinero ships an update every 3 weeks, and Media Stack every 2 days. Most recently, Cinero was updated on October 7, 2026 and Media Stack on October 24, 2026.

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