Plex is tripling the price of its lifetime pass—and hinting it might disappear forever

Plex has decided to increase the price of its lifetime subscription to Plex Pass. Instead of a slight bump, however, it's a massive increase that effectively triples its price. Currently, the Plex Pass is available for a lifetime subscription for $249.99, but not for long. Starting July 1, 2026, a Plex Pass lifetime subscription will cost users $749.99.

A 200% price increase is nearly unprecedented. Plex said in its defense that the new price "reflects the real, ongoing value of the software." While the value may be a debatable factor in itself, the sudden announcement and the current situation are more troublesome. In a way, Plex has essentially given an ultimatum to users who want to buy the lifetime pass to cash in on the current price.

What's worse is that Plex also revealed that they've considered "eliminating" the ability to buy a lifetime pass altogether. Luckily, that's not the case (for now). However, mentioning it in the announcement itself can also serve as a slight nudge to users that not only will the lifetime pass be triple the price, but the chance to get it in the future may not exist altogether.

One Plex user on the official forums wrote, "Can we just call this what it is? Unobtainable. It's clear as day greed, the company doesn't want this to exist anymore, that's why the cost is what it is." Similarly, one Reddit user said, "Looks like the plan is to make it so ridiculous that people will opt in for the monthly sub."

What does this change mean for current Plex users?

What to expect going forward

Users who have already bought a Lifetime Plex Pass will remain unaffected. There's also no price hike for the monthly and annual subscriptions for Plex Pass. It seems like Plex is happy with the current pricing for the recurring subscriptions but wants the exorbitant price for the Lifetime Plex Pass to "continue to invest resources into building and maintaining the Plex personal media software."

Jellyfin is the closest alternative to Plex and also does not offer any premium tiers, meaning that the open-source media server is free to use with no features locked behind a paid subscription. Reacting to the announcement, one Reddit user wrote, "See, now I'm thinking it's only a matter of time before they find a reason to alter the agreement for current lifetime pass holders. Happy to be running Jellyfin in tandem for when they do."

It's safe to say that the price increase has not sat well with current Plex users, and when you consider Jellyfin as a fully free alternative, it will not be surprising if users decide to switch.

Source: Plex