AFAIK, Kodi is still client-based, and doesn't have the nice server component that Plex does. It's nice to have a single server handling transcoding, media management, etc. etc, and allowing the clients to be thin.
How "nice" do you want it to be? Kodi can be told to act as a UPnP server, and any UPnP client should then be able to pick up on it.
Kodi also has an optional web interface, which is primarily used to act as a remote, but I've found it can also be a thin client receiver--any media within the library can be streamed to the browser tab.
Kodi also has an optional web interface, which is primarily used to act as a remote, but I've found it can also be a thin client receiver--any media within the library can be streamed to the browser tab.