It hasn't been easy to be a Plex user these past few years. I mean, yeah, setting up a Plex server on your computer or NAS? Easy as taking the nose off a leper. But friendo, you're gonna pay for the privilege.
Long-time users have been watching the cost of using the roll-your-own-Netflix streaming service steadily climb. Up until recently, the smart money was on investing in a lifetime membership with the service. It used to be that $120 would cover your Plex account, allowing you to stream, download content to other devices, and share shows and movies with your pals, right up until you croaked or your hard drives burnt out. Happy days! This past March, the cost climbed to $250. Steep, but worth it. However, in May, we were warned that the $250 price would be getting jacked up again at the end of June to $750. Plex's people claim that it's a cost that better reflects what it takes to keep their services up and running for users over the years. Well, it's now July. As expected, lifetime premium access with the service rounds up to a grand. And we just found out what the old price, $250, gets you:
Streaming platform developer Plex has moved forward with a promised price hike on its lifetime Plex Pass plan, which now charges a one-time fee of $750 to unlock premium features associated with its apps.
Plex has also quietly introduced a new five-year plan that costs $250, the same price as its lifetime Plex Pass before the cost increased on Wednesday. The cost of Plex's monthly and annual Plex Pass subscriptions remains unchanged at $7 per month or $70 per year.
Of course, it's still possible to set up a Plex server for the low, low cost of absolutely nothing. But in doing so, you'll miss out on many of the features that make using the service great.
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