Plex Raises Price for Plex Pass, No Longer Offers Free Remote Playback for Personal Media

I'm not a heavy Plex user, but someone tell me if my use case is affected by the limitation of remote streaming. I only use Plex for music so that I can host my library of music on my home server and listen remotely from my iPhone. My family shares my login for the same music streaming ability. Is this now a Plex Pass only feature?
 
PlutoTV is free, and it’s awesome. I used to spend close to $300 a month for cable. But i cut the cord awhile ago & haven’t looked back. I let my Netflix, hbo max & hulu expire recently. Just have Apple tv & Amazon Prime right now. But i mix it up. Whatever new show i wanna watch.
 
I paid on the high end at $150 for lifetime way back in 2015. Crazy to think I've been hosting a massive Plex library for myself, family, and close friends for a decade now.

Really love the software and I will keep using it!
 
zorinlynx said:
Taking away features for existing users is a pretty ****** move. If anything the new rules should only apply for new accounts, and not existing installations.

You suck, Plex.
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we are all used to free software and services, nothing is free in this world.
 
chrisdazzo said:
Same, glad I bought in early. By no means perfect, but works very well for simple organization and local/remote viewing 95% of the time.
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Wish they spent resources on developing features people want instead of pushing their own content.
I want to create playlists by artist name in Music, but it is not possible.
 
I just upgraded from yearly to lifetime for 120 as too many friends and family rely on my library. Worth doing it before the price increase as they give you the credit from what's left of your annual subscription.
 
CarAnalogy said:
That’s the thing with software that’s for profit in any way. Eventually you run out of useful features, but still need money. So either sell out to an aggregator who will slowly bleed your app to death, or just keep adding features and bleed it to death yourself.

Happens to everyone. Just look at Apple.

You could just spend your time refining it and fixing bugs. But nobody cares about that, apparently it doesn’t drive sales.

And I don’t mean to minimize developers’ need to make money. It just seems like an inevitable downward spiral.
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Line must go up. Otherwise we'll have to face tough questions, like "Why is line not going up?"
 
Greenmeenie said:
PlutoTV is free, and it’s awesome. I used to spend close to $300 a month for cable. But i cut the cord awhile ago & haven’t looked back. I let my Netflix, hbo max & hulu expire recently. Just have Apple tv & Amazon Prime right now. But i mix it up. Whatever new show i wanna watch.
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Totally agree about PlutoTV, and I don't even watch it honestly -- I just know my relatives LOVE it and it allowed them to stop paying for any other streaming of any kind.
 
I just use Plex on a remote server as a database for Infuse which is much cheaper, and a great product if you’re in Apple’s ecosystem.

With this kind of setup, you don’t need to pay for Plex at all, even if your friends/family are also accessing your library via Infuse. I’m scared that this sounds like a loophole that might close eventually but I’ve been using it this way for a long time, and it works perfectly.
 
I run a Plex server on my Unraid and I love it. I bought the lifetime pass so no worries. My best friend also gets to benefit from my library and it’s a good test for my throughput.
 
Well, well, well. Costs go up; we all have experienced the inflation that came with COVID over the last several years. And the owner of Plex lives in Hawaii so he needs our money. :)

Seriously, though, I started using Plex on an Intel Core 2 Duo Mac mini when it was a fresh fork from XBMC. The point of Plex then was to have a Mac-specific home theater suite that could take advantage of Apple's hardware (which even Apple didn't do). You wanted AC3 Dolby Digital with Apple? Good luck with that; you had to be a master at Audio MIDI Setup (a real pain in the backside). But Plex was one of the first to bring it and the 5.1 digital surround via the optical port that all Macs had at the time. Big win for Plex. Over the years the software changed and evolved - stand alone server and playback apps, addition of DTS audio, 4k HDR, 7.1, third-party remote controls (I still use my Harmony remote), gpu-accelerated video decoding, remote streaming, Linux, Windows, and, of course, some bloat. But the bloat is not nearly as bad as my LG TV, which after a mandatory software update brought commercials as soon as I turn the thing on. But at least it has WebOS, so and I can stream my 4k content using Plex for WebOS. And much of the Plex bloat can be disabled, anyway, so no big deal.

I'm glad I bought a Plex Pass several years ago for $75. It's been one of the best purchases I've made. Before that, I'd donate $25/year to the Plex team (all volunteers) because it was so easy to use with my media. I don't expect to see any decline in my use of Plex. It's been well worth it.

So buy that lifetime pass while it's cheap. At least they're telling us it's coming.
 
If you only have Apple devices, Infuse is personally way better, not complex, cheap, looks nice and has never failed me, not once.
 
Cave Man said:
Well, well, well. Costs go up; we all have experienced the inflation that came with COVID over the last several years. And the owner of Plex lives in Hawaii so he needs our money. :)

Seriously, though, I started using Plex on an Intel Core 2 Duo Mac mini when it was a fresh fork from XBMC. The point of Plex then was to have a Mac-specific home theater suite that could take advantage of Apple's hardware (which even Apple didn't do). You wanted AC3 Dolby Digital with Apple? Good luck with that; you had to be a master at Audio MIDI Setup (a real pain in the backside). But Plex was one of the first to bring it and the 5.1 digital surround via the optical port that all Macs had at the time. Big win for Plex. Over the years the software changed and evolved - stand alone server and playback apps, addition of DTS audio, 4k HDR, 7.1, third-party remote controls (I still use my Harmony remote), gpu-accelerated video decoding, remote streaming, Linux, Windows, and, of course, some bloat. But the bloat is not nearly as bad as my LG TV, which after a mandatory software update brought commercials as soon as I turn the thing on. But at least it has WebOS, so and I can stream my 4k content using Plex for WebOS. And much of the Plex bloat can be disabled, anyway, so no big deal.

I'm glad I bought a Plex Pass several years ago for $75. It's been one of the best purchases I've made. Before that, I'd donate $25/year to the Plex team (all volunteers) because it was so easy to use with my media. I don't expect to see any decline in my use of Plex. It's been well worth it.

So buy that lifetime pass while it's cheap. At least they're telling us it's coming.
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Agree with this. Plex has been one of those apps which is super dependable, works well, makes it easy to take care of tech illiterate family, and scratch the audiophile itch too. No issues paying for a Plex pass.

My only worry (and it’s not even a worry) is that the “lifetime”’pass won’t be, as it’s simply the model most software companies that need to put bread on the table are being pushed towards.
 
kirky29 said:
If you only have Apple devices, Infuse is personally way better, not complex, cheap, looks nice and has never failed me, not once.
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Looks good after my initial research but GPT says that I would need to pay for the Pro version if I want to stream 5.1 or Atmos at $17/year. Obvs less than Plex but still an additional cost to consider.
 
Have been running a Plex server for over 10 years. Bought a Lifetime Plex Pass a couple of years into it to support development. It's not perfect but has done an excellent job overall for the cost. Costs are going to go up. Raising prices after such a long time is not surprising. It's annoying but you can always vote with your wallet. IMO, if you use the free version right now and find it useful buying the lifetime pass is well worth it prior to the price increase.
 
wilef said:
I'm not a heavy Plex user, but someone tell me if my use case is affected by the limitation of remote streaming. I only use Plex for music so that I can host my library of music on my home server and listen remotely from my iPhone. My family shares my login for the same music streaming ability. Is this now a Plex Pass only feature?
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If you are using the free version, yes you will impacted. You, or anyone who you share Plex with, won't be able to remote stream to any device outside your network. Inside your network, you will be fine. Outside, nope.
 
Did they even send out an email to their existing customers about this? I became a paid user back in September and have not seen anything about this hitting my inbox.
 
I wish there was a personal library sharing service like Plex that fully integrated with the TV app. I expect that’s an Apple restriction though, and can’t see that changing.
 
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