This might be a good time to remind everyone that Jellyfin is open source, free (as in beer) and is, at this point, a better media streamer than Plex. No fees, no ads, no constant pushing of their streaming content, and still has the watch together feature that Plex went and removed.
Plex is increasing Plex Pass prices and paywalling remote playback for personal media at $1.99/month or $19.99/year.
Submitted 5 weeks ago by Tea@programming.dev to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.plex.tv/blog/important-2025-plex-updates/
Comments
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
coaxil@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
The is just better rhetoric gets a bit frustrating tbh, it’s a great bit of software do not get me wrong, but sure still has a lot of issues with more exotic codecs and various colour space conversions. Among some other tech issues
Zidane@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
free (as in beer)
wut
wccrawford@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
There are 2 types of “free”. Liberty, and price. “Free as in beer” means they mean the price version of the word. It’s a really old saying now.
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
I installed Plex a couple years ago and when I found I actually had to sign into their servers to access my own media it was immediately uninstalled. It was only a matter of time before they pulled this kind of shit.
acosmichippo@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
you can disable authentication on your local network.
vithigar@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
This was my exact experience as well. I’ll never know how Plex compares to Jellyfin because I immediately noped out when I ran into the account creation.
Frankly baffling to me that anyone with the wherewithal to self host thought that was okay.
Zink@programming.dev 5 weeks ago
I have a lifetime Plex pass.
I tried out Jellyfin last month.
Now Plex is uninstalled.
Even if we ignore the differences when it comes to matters of FOSS, cost, corporate control, privacy, etc, Jellyfin’s performance is just so much better.
Setting it up to run over https while fully self-hosted was a learning process for somebody who isn’t a web dev, but holy crap was it worth it.
freetolearn@programming.dev 5 weeks ago
It’s just not the same. If all you need is local access or tailscale to your instance it’s fine, sure you can cancel Plex. If you’re sharing with friends or family or like the easy access to it that doesn’t require being part of the private network. Also I like subtitles and Plex handles this way better than Jellyfin. At least last time I played with it
Zink@programming.dev 5 weeks ago
There were some hoops for me to jump through in order to get secure remote access working for sure. Fortunately for my family that connect remotely, it’s transparent for them and doesn’t require any kind of VPN or tunnel. They just need URL, user, and password.
fritobugger2017@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I tried Jelly Fin last month based on a thread here and it was a damned dumpster fire. As bad a Plex is for remote streaming, JF is far worse for the average person.
ayaya@lemdro.id 5 weeks ago
In what way? I share my server with 8 friends/family and it does everything I need it to.
circuitloss@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Hard disagree. I think jellyfin is much better than Plex.
Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
How else would they continue developing their social features that no one fucking asked for?
emogu@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Meanwhile they remove the social features that people DO like and use like watch together
OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
People gotta justify their jobs!
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
There’s enough work without them going all social.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Todays word of the day is…Enshitification!
cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
That’s the word of this decade.
acosmichippo@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
i’ve been struggling with what i thought was depression/anhedonia for a few years now. after multiple psychiatrists and meds accomplishing nothing i am starting to think i’m chemically just fine; the world is actually going to shit around me.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
… with 2 Ts
roofuskit@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Jellyfin is free.
evulhotdog@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
There’s always other free options like duckdns, etc.
roofuskit@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Duckdns is not stable enough. You’ll have downtime multiple times a year.
sebinspace@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Tailscale is also free.
roofuskit@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Possibly a bit annoying for family members used to just logging in though. It’s an extra step.
Danitos@reddthat.com 5 weeks ago
If you don’t kind connecting directly with your IP address, you don’t even have to pay a domain. Been doing this for around 2 years
nutcase2690@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
Just shared in another comment, instead of doing this you can also use playit.gg to create a proxy without requiring an account and also not requiring port forwarding. They lease you a domain name, too
Cyber@feddit.uk 5 weeks ago
Think I’d rather pay that towards the development of Jellyfin
PeterisBacon@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
I used to curse and scream at my jellyfin software and apps, now I swear by them.
I took a day out of my life, not even a full day lol, and just watched countless YouTube videos on how to set it up and how to customize it how I like.
Now it’s my absolute favorite. I’m learning about building a home server and all that jazz now and I feel nostalgic, like a kid building his first computer lol!
cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
New USD prices as of April 29, 2025 will be:
Monthly: $6.99
Yearly: $69.99
Lifetime: $249.99
Oof I paid $75 in 2013 for lifetime lol.
Rexios@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
I like how no one is mentioning that they removed the one time fees for their mobile apps to be able to play media at all. Also, only the server owner needs Plex Pass and anyone they share with can stream for free.
Swarfega@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
They are removing it to make money from a subscription instead. You’re making it sound like they are doing something good!
Mailloche@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
How so? My friends need to use my account or else they need to pay to watch my movie? Did that change?
Brewchin@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The US$75 Lifetime price has traditionally been their Black Friday deal, regardless of the usual price.
Anyone’s guess if that deal will still be a thing, given their recent behaviour, though.
UxyIVrljPeRl@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Paid 99, worst investment i did till now.
Petter1@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Me too 🫢
Teknikal@eviltoast.org 5 weeks ago
So they think it’s acceptable to charge people to access their own files. Good Luck with that morons.
SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
Yeah this is why I don’t use Plex.
At one point I installed it on my NAS. It goes through the setup, and then says I need to make a cloud account. Wtf? I am running locally hosted software on locally hosted hardware to access locally hosted files. Why do I need any cloud for this?
I don’t. I uninstalled it.
Squizzy@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I pay a dude to access his files 😎
Teknikal@eviltoast.org 5 weeks ago
As long as their not Plex’s files I see no Issue that they should be compensated for.
dantheclamman@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
It is enshittification for sure. At the core it makes sense to not have it free, since dynamic DNS is not free. However it is a very small cost
Swarfega@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
So the media that I host is now no longer streamable when I am outside my home network? The fuck?
That’s my server, my bandwidth, my electricity and they are blocking it?
SirQuack@feddit.nl 5 weeks ago
That’s enshittification for ya.
Meanwhile, all “lifetime pass” holders are encouraging this, while they have no skin in the game.
Swarfega@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Anyone investing in a lifetime pass because of these changes is really making a really bad decision. Plex is not going to get better. These shitty decisions will keep coming and eventually it will be something that affects the lifetime users.
thermal_shock@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I’m not encouraging this at all. I’ve got a library of 5600 movies, 300 series, 300k songs I share with family. I have a lifetime pass I got last year, family doesn’t need anything, apps stream free on TV’s and browsers, only mobile had a few $ attached to it, which you can bypass using the browser. They all use tv/computer anyway.
Soapbox1858@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Jellyfin is so much better anyway. I used plex for years and it has steadily enshitified.
JustARaccoon@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Honestly I’ve tried jellyfin and I have a hard time agreeing with this for a few reasons:
- UI generally more unresponsive than Plex;
- changes to correct a show/movie being assigned the wrong show/movie metadata very slow to propagate if at all, same for changing other library options like title language preference;
- generally slower to buffer and get into videos;
- very rough android lollipop UI;
- not as easy to set up tech illiterate friends for play together.
I’ll give you that morally jellyfin is less customer-adverse than Plex management is at the moment and it is more open in some ways so you can have more plugins and add-ons that Plex lacks, and sure it’s a free product so it should be given some leeway, but if I just listened to all of the people saying jellyfin is just so much better I’d think it was an objectively better offering, but it’s not. When it comes to what I care about, it fell short, so just giving my 2 cents. Still worth trying, considering you can just point it to the same media folders, but yeah not god’s gift on earth.
mintberrycrunch@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I agree with this. Add in also Apple TV options aren’t great. Swiftfin is just ok and Infuse is $
hornedfiend@sopuli.xyz 5 weeks ago
i’ve had none of those issues and i’ve been a jellyfin user for the past 5 years or so, but I do use containers for the server.
Android client is not great, but there are alternatives like Findroid, which is pretty great.
Last point is literally a couple of clicks. You just need to understand what libraries are and how to add them.
trashacct@lemmynsfw.com 5 weeks ago
Could you explain why you feel that Jellyfin is a lot better? I’ve seen lots of folks saying it lately, but as someone with an unraid server running plex to back up and view my music and movie collections for years, I don’t get it. I’ve tried Jellyfin twice now. The most recent time was a couple of months ago. While it is good, I honestly have a hard time seeing what makes it much better than Plex. While I disagree with a number of things Plex has done, I still recommend it to friends who want a personal media server or place to rip and backup their CDs to. It’s still the easiest to setup and most intuitive imo. Am I just missing something?
Soapbox1858@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
The most infuriating thing about Plex for me was when they shifted to force you to start with their BS streaming service at open. I only used Plex for my personal media collection. So having to jump through a bunch of menus to get to the only thing I want to use in their app was the biggest reason to switch for me. Maybe there is a way to fix that, but I could never find one.
Jellyfin just does your personal media library and opens right up into it when the app starts. Its simpler, faster, and FOSS.
Lizardking13@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I tried jellyfin but didn’t like it. Currently using emby and it works well.
BlueMagma@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
I used Plex before I got tired of it requiring a remote network connection to work in my home network (no remote). I switched to emby a few years ago, and I’m tired of it too: Subtitle is a pain, filtering is a nightmare, integration with sonarr/radarr and configuration is annoying…
I’ve started developing my own streaming server, playback is working nice through the browser from server to tvlaptop. I’m going to integrate Transmission UI into it, and show/movie management, to get rid of sonnarr/radarr and maybe I’ll manage to get rid of jackett too, so tired of this cumbersome stack. I want it all integrated into a single server with a single interface.
pogmommy@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
Agreed. Started out in Plex when j knew nothing about self hosting, very quickly made the switch to Jellyfin and haven’t looked back. If I’m hosting my media, storing it locally, and running my own server, I’m much better off not integrating the software of some company that feels entitled to bleed some extra revenue from me.
thatsnothowyoudoit@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
I see Jellyfin suggested as an alternative to Plex here. I hope it is one day.
At the moment it’s nowhere close.
I’ve been running Jellyfin side-by-side Plex for two years and it’s still not a viable replacement for anyone but me. Parents, my partner, none of the possible solutions for them come anywhere near close to the usability of Plex.
That will likely change because plex is getting worse every day. More noise, more useless features.
But at the moment it really isn’t close for most folks who are familiar with the slickness of commercial apps.
Even from the administrative side, Jellyfin takes massively more system resources and it doesn’t reliably work with all my files.
Again, Jellyfin will get there it’s just not a drop in replacement for most folks yet.
And for context I started my DIY streaming / hosting life with a first gen Apple TV (pretty much a Mac mini with component video outs) that eventually got XBMC and then Boxee installed on it. I even have the forksaken Boxee box.
monkeyslikebananas2@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I mean, that’s like, your opinion man… I prefer Jellyfin.
thatsnothowyoudoit@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
But that’s exactly my point - we here in this bubble prefer Jellyfin - but it’s not ready for mass adoption. Even plex is a drop in the bucket.
Iheartcheese@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Guess it’s time I listen to all those jellyfin Fanboys
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I paid for a lifetime membership to Plex in 2012–$75. I stopped using it around 2015, mostly because I hated that I didn’t have access to software running on my server, meant to serve my media, without an internet connection. I knew that meant worse was coming in the future.
I don’t regret switching to Jellyfin.
TheMcG@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
You can access locally when the internet is down. You just need to set the login bypass for the local network. IMO it’s kinda a stupid step needed in setup but it is available.
atomicpeach@pawb.social 5 weeks ago
I’m not sure I understand the need for charging to play media on a private server when not on the local network. Why is this no longer going to be free? I’m glad I bought a lifetime pass many many years back but I definitely wouldn’t pay for Plex nowadays with alternatives being comparable. What a silly choice they made~
Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
It reeks of “we’re routing your traffic through our own servers to check your media for piracy” to me.
fakeplastic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
Why would they check for piracy when it’s not them you’re pirating from and stopping piracy would remove the most popular use case of their product?
ATDA@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I run jellyfin in a container and it is amazing. Give it a try.
padge@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
Well, sounds like I have six weeks to spin up Jellyfin side-by-side with Plex to see if I can get away with not paying the $120 ransom…
max_dryzen@mander.xyz 5 weeks ago
Plex is the current war front. May it hold for many years.
WhiteBurrito@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Feeling glad I bought my lifetime license like two years ago
geography082@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
RIP Plex
turkalino@lemmy.yachts 5 weeks ago
Does Jellyfin have good skip intro functionality for TV shows? That was the main thing keeping me from switching last time I considered a couple years ago
undystains@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
That $75 Lifetime Plex Pass is looking like a good decision by past me.
Unmapped@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
Deceptive title. If the person hosting the server has Plex pass then it’s still free for other users to use remote playback.
dnzm@feddit.nl 4 weeks ago
Well, that’s Plex gone from my server, then. I had switched to Jellyfin, anyway, but it was mostly “still there”.
No more.
Greg@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
These seem like reasonable changes
empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
So Plex just killed itself? Got it. Lmao bye Felicia
PeteZa@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
That blows. I just use the Plex app on my TV for free streaming channels. 24/7 Top Gear reruns FTW!
mjhelto@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
No love for Emby here?
SirMaple__@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
gilindoeslemmy@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
jellyfin.org Great alternative to Plex!
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
I paid for a lifetime Plex Pass years and years ago now, I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth.
That being said, I fully expect more bullshit like this, up to and including ending my “lifetime” pass.
When that comes to pass, I’m so glad Jellyfin will be available for me to use.
plaguesandbacon@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
I also paid for a lifetime pass and still switched to Jellyfin last year. I find it’s quite a bit better than Plex. The UI leaves a bit to be desired, but the performance for me is way better.
I’d suggest giving it a try
Lenny@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
“We regret to inform you that your Lifetime Pass has died in a restructuring related accident. Consider easing your loss by browsing our other pass options.”
PostaL@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Never EVER pay for lifetime subscriptions
, unless you have lawyers on retainer.treadful@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
Wish they had a client for PS5.
yukichigai@lemmy.sdf.org 5 weeks ago
Unfortunately, Sony seems to be really hostile towards allowing most any video player apps on the PS5. They specifically went out of their way to remove DLNA support, and they only just allowed a DLNA-enabled video player on the store 7 months ago… and it’s subscription based.
tonyn@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
I am in the same exact boat. The PS5 is the media machine for us upstairs. I would switch to jellyfin if there was a PS5 client. Glad I’m not alone on this.
SexDwarf@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
That’s the biggest reason I haven’t switched to Jellyfin.