We use Emby Server to maintain watch status sync and various not-Kodi-friendly devices in our house. The TVs use Emby through Kodi because of Kodi's superior interface and processing.

Kodi 19/Matrix broke that, however, so now we're just streaming directly from the NAS until it's resolved on Emby's end.

While the 2 experiences are nearly identical, we like the per-user/other device stuff that Emby brings in. (As well as outside-the-home streaming when we travel.) If you don't need or care about that stuff, just pulling from a central data store works very nicely in stand-alone Kodi.

The Emby and Plex apps are trash compared to Kodi if you care about flexibility/customization.