this post was submitted on 01 May 2025
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I was just forwarded this someone in my household who watches our server. That's it folks. I've been a hold out for a long time, but this is honestly it.

They want me to pay to stream content that I bought from my hardware transcoded also on my hardware.

I'll say it. As of today, I say Plex is dead. Luckily I've been setting up Jellyfin, I guess it's time to make it production ready.

Edit I have a Plex Pass. More comments saying "Just buy a plex pass" are seriously not getting it. I have a Plex Pass and my users are still getting this.

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[–] [email protected] 70 points 1 month ago (6 children)

I have a Plex Pass and my users are still getting this.

To be crystal clear to anyone getting this email: if the server admin has a Plex Pass, users need to do nothing to continue as normal. The streaming pass is only for users who aren’t connecting to a server that has a Plex Pass.

What I find shitty about this is that it’s being indiscriminately sent to every Plex account. There’s bound to be lots of people who don’t understand what this means who will be tricked into buying a streaming pass they don’t need at all. I’ve been getting messages from my users all day asking wtf is going on, and I’m getting tired of trying to convince them to just ignore the email.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That's where my head was. If anything, it threw all of my users into a panic, thinking that they had to suddenly start paying. I had a couple immediately uninstall the apps. I don't blame them, the way it was worded it was pretty much pushing them that they had to. Plex undid years worth of trust right there with them.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What gets me is that they didn't message plex pass holders about this first. I would have gladly let my users know that they need to do nothing. Instead I'm fielding all kinds of panicked messages.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Same. Their wording was obviously meant to push them into just buying the membership. They chose language that sounded like you have to buy it ~or talk to your server admin~.

It should have been "Talk with your server owner, <> to see if you need to purchase a subscription or not". Language like that would be very clear - but they chose not to do that.

Or even better. <>, which is ran by <> already has a plex pass subscription, you can continue watching without a subscription! Gee, how nice that would have been.

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 month ago (1 children)

"Yes they are your files on your hardware in your home using your internet bandwitdh. But uh... fuck you."

[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

They can just adjust their pricing like that without a warning before hand? Who do they think they are?

Sad to see Plex becoming another target of enshittification.

enjoy intro pricing on a Remote Watch Pass

why would someone enjoy paying for what was free?!

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Right? Absolutely ludicrous. I can't get over how they can be so arrogant to think they deserve money for that. It's core functionality that existed before they forked off of emby. They didn't even write that code. Then they have no infrastructure for it, because it transcodes and streams from my server over my network. Any infrastructure they have in that process is nothing I wanted (looking at the auth that for some reason needs to phone home).

No, this is too far, I'm officially leaving Plex.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And Jellyfin shall welcome you with open sourcey arms.

add some wireguard leases so that you can share access to it with your friends, and presto :)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What do you mean for wireguard? Can't they just access it directly?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I mean if you want to open up your network to the outside, sure. but a VPN would be a bit more safer, right?

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (9 children)

Incorrect.

They are not charging for local streaming on your network. They are just charging for remote streaming, something that wasn't part of emby, does use their servers and network bandwidth, and chews up a huge amount of development time.

For comparison, do let us all know which media server youre jumping to that supports secure and seamless remote streaming across a wide variety of devices and ecosystems

Just buy a lifetime Plex Pass and pay for the software you use. If you had years ago this wouldn't be a problem and you literally would not notice that money being gone at this point.

$150 to perpetually operate a media server with free software updates is a ridiculous deal.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (19 children)

Define remote streaming, because they all support it unless there's some term I don't know about. Jellyfin allows me to remote stream out of the box - just like Plex used to.

The only thing I can think of that you're referring to is the proxied streaming thing, which I don't care about anyway. Jellyfin connects directly to my new server

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[–] ReallyActuallyFrankenstein 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They are not charging for local streaming on your network. They are just charging for remote streaming, something that wasn't part of emby, does use their servers and network bandwidth, and chews up a huge amount of development time.

I'm sorry, what? How does me hosting my content on my server connected to the Internet with a connection I pay for, to a remote client that I own and also connected to the Internet that I pay for, "use their servers and network bandwidth"? How is basic remote streaming functionality that existed for the entire time I've used it "chew up a huge amount of development time"?

Their development time - the things they're bleeding self-hosted users to fund through this change - is entirely focused on their AVOD-hosting, SVOD-hub garbage that every other streaming startup is doing.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (7 children)
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

They announced this ahead of time. I got the email. They gave everyone a heads up with enough time to buy a lifetime Plex pass at the previous rate.

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Been using Jellyfin since plex started to annoy me for using it without an account.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In case people aren't clear on what's happening, here is a graphic that illustrates what's happening.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I have never used plex, and never will because I like my privacy, but that 20 usd a year does not sound much. thats less than 2 usd a month

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 month ago (2 children)

and what the hell do they think they deserve my money for anyway? What feature have they brought server owners over the last... 2 or 3 years? Seriously what have they done for us? Last thing I remember is credit skip - which was years ago now.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (9 children)

Wait they're charging people for the privilege of using one's hardware and bandwidth to share to friends??

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago

Glad I switched to Jellyfin last year.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Just buy a Plex Pass, damn. If you really like the software and it does everything you want, but you just want all the features for free then move to Emby or Jellyfin or whatever. I do hear Emby and Jellyfin have some good qualities but I haven’t tried them myself.

Personally, the lifetime Plex Pass was one of my best purchases ever, but if you’re against paying for it, then you do you.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's all great until they eventually revoke your lifetime pass too and make it a subscription. If you think corporations won't do something scummy like that I have a bridge to sell to you.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Call me when it happens. Until then, that’s just speculation masquerading as a justification.

My lifetime pass from 2017 for $100 still works just the same as the day I bought it. I’m almost down to $1 per month for my overall costs. It’s ludicrously cheap compared to other entertainment options.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The thing is, a the length of a lifetime license isn't defined by law.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (4 children)

So? How does that change my perceived value of the product I’m using today?

“They could change your license tomorrow!!!111!1”.

Ok. And then at that point I look for alternatives. I guess I don’t understand the rage at whatever future possibility you are sure is going to happen any second now.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Plex requiring a centralized accounts for self hosting was the bullshit I needed to move to Jellyfin and I never looked back.

Charging to share your own content? Hah!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

If you don’t want the centralized auth, then yes, find a solution that works for your needs. Glad you were able to.

I didn’t like that auth change, but stuck with it and long-term overall it’s been a non-issue for me and my users. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a deal-breaker for others.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

So then all the users of your server are fine, as the email states.

EDIT: Downvote if you want but that’s literally the fourth paragraph of the email you posted.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Even if I wasn't a Plex pass holder, they're removing functionality. How do you not see that that is unacceptable? If they need income they can add new functionality that's paid but this is something that was free before, and is now no longer free. Worse yet, it's my server, I don't know how they need 7 dollars a month for any infrastructure they have to support it when I do the heavy compute and streaming myself.

It's absolutely just greedy. They could have charged for that new UI they released. Or any new feature. They're charging for things that either cost them pennies, or worse yet probably nothing.

And we're not even talking about how with my Plex pass they're still getting emails pushing them to join and how scummy that is

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I could see how you could see that, but previously if you weren’t a Plex Pass holder, you had to pay a one time fee to activate the Plex app to steam for more than 60 seconds (IIRC) remotely. How is this any different? If anything, it makes it cheaper because of the server owner is a Plex Pass holder, none of their users need to pay anything, versus today where it’s $5 per device unless you’re in a Plex Home covered by a Plex Pass.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago (25 children)
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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

Yeah if I didn't buy lifetime pass for like $50 years and years ago I'd be done with Plex probably.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Your users can still stream your content because you have plex pass. This is just notifying everyone who’s on a free account.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

Well no, they notified everyone, and my users freaked out, rightfully so. One immediately uninstalled the app because of it. So, that trust is just gone. Then second, I'm angry that they're removing functionality that has been free for a decade for... reasons? As I explain elsewhere, there's negligible cloud overhead for it. If this was a new feature that was locked behind plexpass or something - fine. Removing functionality I can't get behind. Sure, my server would keep working, but this is the last straw for me. It's obvious what's happening over there, and my users don't trust it. So I'm out.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Who even runs a plex server without a plex pass?

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

the people giving their bandwidth away for free now want money to pay their bills?

To clarify, I disagree with needing an account (sharing my email) with Plex in the first place, and personally would not purchase what is essentially a CDN or VPN depending on how plex distributes your content to your end users. However, from these comments it seems like this was a free service they offered and now want money for it, because it is not profitable. Enshittification? Sure, but not unexpected. Apparently this doesn’t affect you if you stream locally either.

This does complicate things though since now users have to consider paying a subscription for network security or begin distributing OpenVPN configurations to people. In some cases it won’t be possible, like on your TV.

I’ll share my secret: configure your VPN so only select traffic is sent down it and if you’re on iOS, AirPlay it to the television if it supports it. Or you can connect a raspberry pi up to it.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (3 children)

All I know is I've been told over and over and over that Plex is better than Jellyfin because of reasons, so this latest move won't have me changing my mind!

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Deleted my Plex account as soon as I got this email, using the account link in said email, so hopefully they see the connection.

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