Never a better time to switch to Jellyfin: Plex increases price of Lifetime Plex Pass to $749.99

a month ago by StarvingMartist to c/jellyfin

Today we’re announcing an important pricing update. Starting July 1, 2026, the price of a new Lifetime Plex Pass will increase to $749.99 USD.

When Plex first started, we were movie and TV fans who wanted to make something great for people like us. We chose to offer a Lifetime subscription early on because we knew many of our customers would rather pay a higher one-time fee for software that they can depend on every day.

We’ve considered eliminating the Lifetime Plex Pass in the past, given that recurring subscriptions help us sustain long-term development, but we know it’s still a valuable option for many in our community. So instead of retiring it, we’re keeping it available at a price that reflects the real, ongoing value of the software we’re committed to building and maintaining for years to come.

https://www.plex.tv/...

Original Reddit post

db2 58 points a month ago

2015-2025 $120

2025-2026 $250

2026-? $750

Plex can fuck all the way off.

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Zachariah 25 points a month ago

Got my lifetime for $75 in 2013. Started testing Jellyfin anyway once Plex started offering streaming media to compete with local libraries.

Anyone with $750 to spend on this either:
A) Doesn’t have the skills/resources to set up and server, so they’ll just put the money towards streaming
B) Has the skills/resources to set up Jellyfin and will just put the towards server and media costs

Any bets when older lifetime passes get un-grandfathered (for at least some “new” features) at some point?

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Grass 9 points a month ago

Some companies seem to be able to change the contract whenever they want and bar access if you dont accept. Cell providers in my area seemingly aren't allowed to do that but it feels like everyone else can, especially regarding digital media.

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pivot_root 8 points a month ago

Calling it now:

2028-? Plex Pass Plus (subscription only)

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digdilem 23 points a month ago

We’ve considered eliminating the Lifetime Plex Pass in the past, given that recurring subscriptions help us sustain long-term development, but we know it’s still a valuable option for many in our community. So instead of retiring it, we’re keeping it available at a price that reflects the real, ongoing value of the software we’re committed to building and maintaining for years to come.

Translation: We fucked up by creating a lifetime pass but now we can't get rid of it without being sued by everyone who did what we said they should and bought one. If we honour existing passes and stop selling new ones, we'll be reviled by everyone else, so we'll just pick a ridiculous figure out of the air so nobody can say we killed them.

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Zachariah 7 points a month ago

…reflects the real, ongoing value of the software…

If people are mostly buying the lifetime pass at the old price, that’s the real value of the software. It’s too bad they don’t think it’s enough to keep their company going. I don’t think this new price will save them. Not all companies need to exist.

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Auli 1 point a month ago

Sure but people expect continued development. I understand in purchased valid time pass but who pays fior the development.

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Zachariah 2 points a month ago

new customers that the previous customers recommended the product to

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sp3ctr4l 12 points a month ago

I'm sorry, are there Plex users who didn't see this coming?

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HAL_9_TRILLION 8 points a month ago

This is apeshit stupid. I don't expose my media to the Internet, so I'm not affected but I know what's coming: no free users allowed at all.

Glad to see Jellyfin is more than up to the task. I only hang around on Plex for lazy reasons, but I can tell that soon enough I'm gonna have to jump ship.

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bowreality 3 points a month ago

I run both at the same time on the same library. I am ready to pull the plug on (free) plex for a while. Jellyfin works well and was easy enough to set up.

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akilou 7 points a month ago

How do I give others access to my Jellyfin library?

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buttmasterflex 13 points a month ago

Tailscale, Netbird, or Wireguard, depending on how many people you want to share with and the technical comfort of all parties

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akilou 6 points a month ago

My technical comfort is high. Everyone else's is low

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Dave 2 points a month ago

Expose it to the internet in a way you're comfortable then tell them login details including what to write for the domain.

Or just do what I do and set it up on their TV for them 🤷

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sp3ctr4l 1 point a month ago

Everyone else can learn.

You're the one with the goods.

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akilou 10 points a month ago

Dude, do you have a mom? Have you met a boomer?

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Vittelius 6 points a month ago

I assume, you are asking how to allow remote (as in outside of your network) access. There are multiple options to achieve this goal:

Local reverse proxy and port forwarding: You essentially poke a hole through your firewall to expose your Jellyfin to the internet. Only works if you got a static IP and your router allows it.
VPN: Sometimes your router has a VPN option built in. Otherwise Tailscale is a simple option. Requires some setup on the playback device. Not recommended if your users are using a lot of non-Android smart TVs
Tunneling to remote reverse proxy: generally the recommended option. Pangolin and netbird are two providers of such services. Your users connect to their servers and then they are automatically redirected to your server. Both services are also open source, so you can selfhost that part of the setup as well, if you want (that's what I do)

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Foni 1 point a month ago

Duckdns & nginx proxy manager. I don't know what you're using to run your server, but look up those two services; they're not difficult to set up and they work well.

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tyler -8 points a month ago

Make them a user, give them the login.

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AverageGoob 14 points a month ago

Exposing your jellyfin on the Internet is much more difficult and requires knowledge of networking and security best practices. It is not as easy as "just giving someone a login" though for those with the know how I would easily recommend it over Plex.

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StarvingMartist 7 points a month ago

I mean I've done it, it required buying a cheap domain and I found out most people don't give a crap about my server even if I offer them access 🥲

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JustEnoughDucks 2 points a month ago

Do we know if Plex has been audited? Or is just that it is so much easier to do and Plex says it is secure so people think it is secure? That is often the case with closed source software.

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Brkdncr 7 points a month ago

Not the point. When setting up remote access Plex is easy, Jellyfin is not.

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tyler 1 point a month ago

They didn’t ask how to expose it on the internet. They asked how to give others access to the library. If they live in a dorm or with roommates it’s as easy as creating a login. If they wanted to give people access over the internet they would have asked that.

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tyler 1 point a month ago

Also they said they are very technical, so clearly the problem isn’t that they don’t know how to expose services on the internet, they most likely didn’t know that jellyfin has users or multiple logins.

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akilou 1 point a month ago

You're thinking of Plex

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tyler 0 points a month ago

No I’m not, I’m running jellyfin with ten users.

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Semi_Hemi_Demigod 4 points a month ago

Once I max out Subnautica 2 this is my weekend project

And an oil change.

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1hitsong 3 points a month ago

Wild. 💰

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Stanley_Pain 3 points a month ago

Paying 70 bucks paying off in the long term.

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PixelatedSaturn 2 points a month ago

I did that just a week ago. It's pretty simple and everything works. No money necessary.

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flandish 2 points a month ago

the only thing i can think of re plex is sometimes their “live tv channels” have shows i forget about like come dine with me or mst3k. etc.

i can get some streams like that on a roku fine.

does jellyfin allow for “streaming channels?”

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Scrollone 3 points a month ago

I think you can just try with PlutoTV, it's free ad-supported streaming and I think Plex uses them as a source for some content.

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