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.
Quietly, Plex has also 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.
In May, the company justified the price hike of its lifetime Plex Pass as necessary to support ongoing development of its server-based software and related connected TV and smartphone apps.
“When Plex first started, we were movie and TV fans who wanted to make something great for people like us,” a Plex spokesperson said at the time. “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.”
For years, Plex offered deep discounts on its Plex Pass subscription, with some long-time users able to score a license for as little as $80. Recently, the company shifted its strategy from developing hobbyist software that allows users to stream their own media across platforms to a self-supported commercial operation that intermingles personal media with free, ad-supported content, discovery tools and social features.
Notably, Plex used to charge for access to its mobile apps, but the company decided to drop its “mobile unlock” fee when it refreshed its mobile apps last year.
A Plex server remains free to launch, and Plex users aren’t charged if they want to watch their own content on their home network. Streaming ad-supported channels and content from Plex’s video on-demand library is also free.
A Plex Pass is required for premium features like automatic intro and credit skipping on owned media, downloading content for offline viewing on mobile devices and remote streaming when away from home.
