this post was submitted on 01 May 2025

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That's all folks, Plex is starting to charge for sharing (poptalk.scrubbles.tech)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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] 28 points 4 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] WhyJiffie 7 points 4 days 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

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

I bought a lifetime plex pass for like $80 in 2016… is Plex getting more annoying? Yes. But is this a huge affront? No.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

People are angry because everyone's spent too much time on social media and are used to assuming the worst and flying off the handle.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 4 days ago (7 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] 14 points 4 days 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] 11 points 4 days 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] 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days 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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago

WAIT

WHAT?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago

I was reading your comment and the just came in the inbox. Lol I don't even use plex at this point.

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

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

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 days ago

Here's Jellyfin's 'How to Contribute' page.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 5 days ago (5 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (4 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] 24 points 5 days ago (38 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] 30 points 5 days 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 5 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 days 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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[–] gravitas_deficiency 18 points 4 days ago (25 children)

jellyfin noises intensify

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 days 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] 20 points 4 days ago (6 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] 13 points 4 days ago

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

[–] iAmTheTot 18 points 5 days ago

Glad I switched to Jellyfin last year.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days 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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

That's essentially my point of view. Plex enshittified. I was angry at how they handled the enshittification, throwing my users into a flurry, but I'm also not surprised that they're doing it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days 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 4 days 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.