Key Points
- Plex is raising the price of its lifetime Plex Pass to $750, a move the company says will allow it to continue developing new features and better apps.
- The current lifetime Plex Pass is $250, and is still available to users who purchase a pass before the price increases on July 1.
- Some Plex users speculate the price increase is intended to make flash deals and discounts during Black Friday and other periods more-attractive.
Streaming software developer Plex will triple the price of its lifetime pass in the summer, a move the company says is intended to ensure it can continue to develop its suite of apps for the foreseeable future.
Starting July 1, the cost of a lifetime Plex Pass will rise to $750, a one-time fee that unlocks all premium features associated with its Plex Server software and associated Plex apps for phones, tablets and smart TVs.
Plex allows users to install software that turns their computer into a server, which enables streaming of videos, audio files and photos to other devices like TVs and phones on a user’s home network. The premium Plex Pass further allows streamers to watch content from their home servers while on the road, using their phones, tablets and other devices that support the Plex app.
Some Plex users also allow others outside their household to access movies, TV shows and music files on their servers, though the practice is not officially condoned by the company. Last year, the company made it more difficult to share Plex server access with people living outside a person’s immediate home by charging a $2 per month fee for a “Remote Pass,” which enables those who access a server without a Plex Pass to watch content from another location.
The lifetime Plex Pass doesn’t require a Remote Pass or any other ongoing payment — which is a bit of a problem for Plex as the company seeks to develop newer versions of its smartphone, tablet and smart TV apps and continue investing in hardware that makes remote streaming between devices possible.
“When Plex first started, we were movie and TV fans who wanted to make something great for people like us,” a Plex spokesperson said in a blog post to customers on Tuesday. “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.”
But as costs climb on Plex’s end, the company has had to make tough decisions. Last April, Plex announced it was raising prices across the board, with the cost of its Plex Pass increased to $7 per month, $70 per year or a one-time payment of $250.
This time around, Plex isn’t adjusting the cost of its monthly or annual plans — only the lifetime Plex Pass is going up, with the new one-time starting price of $750, or more than the cost of 9 annual plan renewals.
“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,” Plex said on Tuesday. “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.”
The price increase will help usher in new features down the road, the company said on Tuesday. Those features include improved media downloads on portable devices, support for different types of metadata, server management via mobile apps, volume normalization across shows and movies, transcoding improvements and further support for the IPv6 standard.
Plex is known to discount its plans during certain times of the year, including the Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday shopping periods. On social media, some Plex users speculated the staggering price increase of the lifetime Plex Pass plan was intended to make those occasional discounts look more attractive while allowing the company to continue earning enough money from those discounts to support ongoing development.
For current lifetime Plex Pass holders, nothing changes at the moment — they won’t be subject to a price increase (since they don’t pay a recurring bill for premium access), and all premium features that were previously available to them will continue to be offered, the company said. Monthly and annual plans are also unchanged.
Customers who feel $750 is out of their price range can lock in the current rate of $250 for a lifetime Plex Pass between now and July 1. Those who are free Plex plans with limited features, or those who share access to their servers with Remote Pass subscribers, are the customers who are most-likely to benefit from purchasing a lifetime Plex Pass now before the new price kicks in.
“The focus for us here at Plex as we move forward is to continue making Plex the definitive app for anyone who loves movies, TV, music, and curating a personal library of content that you control,” Plex said on Tuesday. “We’ve heard from you through our surveys, forum posts, and social media, and we take your feedback into account as we develop our roadmap.”
