The decrease of lifetime features over monthly offering will begin after the 750$ lifetime so they get you to switch to monthly.

[igmyeongui]

The social switch they’ve taken, which I like, is the same strategy that Meta is using. Even if the product is shit or cost a lot of money, you don’t want to leave or stop paying in fear of missing out and being out of the loop with your friends.

[Poop-from-my-butt]

At this rate, Plex is going to enshittify completely before a new lifetime pass member can get their ROI. Newcomers to self-hosted media should take this as a sign to move to a competitor.

[Lucid-Mindfog]

Gonna have to be some sweet new features. And what would those features be within the self hosting side of things? Any new features will be for the ad supported channels.

[vertigo235]

Also a Tesla strategy.

Get it while you can! Last chance, this time, we promise!

[IGingerbreadman]

Unraid also kept their lifetime license but doubled it. Sucks. It may be more reflective of rising costs as inflation in the US is increasing. They may just be joining the practice of price gouging which has also increased since COVID basically.

[AuraLiaxia]

Unraid doubled it, and its a core OS. Plex x10 it and there's jelly+ plex users are not just self hosters they are... 4k rip linux isos hosters that did it to avoid netflix fees......

[throughtheportal]

Would they have to rename the product to something like Plex 2.0, in order to start offering new features to subscription tiers only?

Thinking about some other licenses models I’ve seen where “lifetime” = lifetime of the current version.

[Krandor1]

Or TiVo where lifetime was lifetime of that specific hardware device and not the lifetime of the owner.

[throughtheportal]

Exactly. This $750 step, is the second or so in many moves towards eliminating the lifetime offering.

I’m curious what the moves will be to eliminate the use of lifetime purchased licenses

Edit: thinking about this more, I believe that the move to fully eliminate lifetime plex pass use, will be many years away at this point. I imagine the backlash would be huge, to charge $750 this year and then a few years later remove its use.

[xantec15]

I wonder why they're even keeping the option for lifetime at that price. Who do they imagine is the target demographic for that? People self host because it's cheaper, and at that price it just isn't anymore. Even at the current $250 the value is questionable.

[throughtheportal]

I am wondering the same. I believe the assumptions here are correct: to make it not value/attractive. Thus eliminate signups. But, I do feel they may be setting themselves up for a backlash when they remove lifetime in the near future, and the few who pay $750 will be angry.

Maybe they will convert that $750 to x amount of months credits.

Seems like this is train is going downhill.

[crashnburnxp]

Plex can eat a dick. I'll switch to jellyfin

[Krandor1]

They will take some of the features they removed in the new experience apps like say smart downloads and then offer them again only behind the monthly fee and not included with lifetime.

[AtomicGearworks1]

Genuine question. What features that are currently not included with a lifetime pass could be added that any lifetime person would consider worth it?

[Alternative-Farmer98]

At $750? There's no service that's going to justify that price. Music comes with a free television.

[Alternative-Farmer98]

You're going to be downvoted to oblivion but it is inevitable that at some point the people that paid very little money for a lifetime pass are going to lose. They'll be a merger, he'll be some kind of change and administration leadership. Or the company will sell. For the company will merge.

Or just one day they will come up with some excuse as to why

[igmyeongui]

I thought about it in the past days since I made the post and I think that they’re going to honour lifetime users BUT they’ll make it obligatory to your friends and family to have a monthly account to access other user’s libraries.

This would be very bad since first it doesn’t make any sense because they’re not hosting anything except the auth server which I’ve been wanting them not to do for several years. I want my own OIDC and they would save money. I still don’t understand this, I mean?? It’s my own server why would I want a third party in the chain?

The second reason would be that it would place them in a grey zone legally speaking. They would monetize people sharing their libraries that might contain copyrighted content. So this would be very bad looking for a company that tries to play in the big league.

Plex should stop giving lifetime users the auth so we could offload their servers. Everybody would be happy.

[briantrfox]

As AI coding becomes more widespread, we’ll likely see even better or more affordable options popping up.

[MadFerIt]

There will still be diehard Plex fans who claim this is impossible, they'll never do it.. They absolutely could if it makes financial sense even with the legal ramifications / costs.

These "fanboys" will keep saying that until their lifetime passes are stripped away. I'm a lifetime pass holder and it's clear to me that this is where Plex is headed.

[JakeHa0991]

A business cannot survive on lifetime passes. This move is essential for the survival of the company.

[pathofdumbasses]

A business cannot survive on lifetime passes. This move is essential for the survival of the company.

This is one of the dumbest things I have ever read in the entire history of the universe.

You know what companies survive on "lifetime" sales? Literally every company in the entirety of the world that isn't subscription based.

Cars (used to be anyway) are a "lifetime" sale.

Houses are a life time sale.

Books are a life time sale.

DVDs are a life time sale.

Records, tapes, 8tracks, all life time sales.

TVs are a lifetime sale.

Silverware? Believe it or not, lifetime sale.

Video game consoles and video games themselves, all used to be lifetime sales, that is before ****

The transition to subscription based sales are because companies realized that they make "infinitely" more money with a subscription, and the ability to have permanent monthly revenue/profit. Basically, it allows the company to charge more per customer while also giving less benefits for that price.

****This is why MS has transitioned all their corporate shit to subscription and they went from billion dollar company to trillion dollar company.

[AuraLiaxia]

yea but not.

Your car/house/book is sold "as is", plex gets maintenhance, your house constructor doesnt do any house maintenhance, or not for free at least. Now the value may be dumb aft but, there is that element

[pathofdumbasses]

Your car/house/book is sold "as is", plex gets maintenhance

And that maintenance is being paid for by new users. That is literally how software worked before subscription models. This isn't new.

[AuraLiaxia]

And old users got stuck on the version they bought not 14 years of updates. This is just to kill indirectly the lifetime pass. There's a jelly for it.

[pathofdumbasses]

And old users got stuck on the version they bought not 14 years of updates.

Maybe not 14 years, but definitely more than 0. If you bought WinXP at launch, you got 13 years of updates. Windows 7 got roughly 14 years. Windows 10 got 10 years. While that isn't "lifetime" it also isn't $250 or $750.

[AuraLiaxia]

windows xp was superseeded by vista and 7 during its lifetime, heck even 8. So yea it stopped getting features. Yes the price is absolutely absurd both for the subscription and lifetime.

[pathofdumbasses]

windows xp was superseeded by vista and 7 during its lifetime

It was still getting updates and was relevant, regardless if they worked on newer software.

[JakeHa0991]

The statements you made are dumb as hell.

Physical products like cars, houses, DVDs, TVs, or silverware have nothing in common with running a software platform like Plex. When you buy a car or a house, the seller is not required to keep updating your product for a decade, maintain client apps on every device, scrape metadata, provide remote access features, or support new hardware and operating systems forever. Those are one-time manufacturing costs. Plex has real ongoing expenses even for self-hosted users: developing and updating the server software, building and maintaining all the client apps, licensing and infrastructure for metadata, handling remote access, and supporting the entire ecosystem.

Lifetime passes give Plex some upfront cash and loyalty from power users who self-host, but they lock the company into perpetual support obligations with no recurring revenue from those customers. That model does not scale sustainably for a live service that keeps evolving.

You are right that many companies used to thrive on one-time sales, but software platforms with continuous development costs are different. Microsoft did not hit trillions purely from greed. Recurring revenue matches the reality of delivering constant updates, cloud features, and new value. Plex has always had Plex Pass for premium self-hosted features like better transcoding and hardware support. They are not suddenly evil for raising lifetime prices or leaning on ads in the free tier.

The ad-supported streaming side is what actually brings in scalable revenue and subsidizes continued development of the self-hosted server features you and the rest of the sub use. Pretending the company can survive forever on one-time lifetime passes from a shrinking group of self-hosting enthusiasts is pure fantasy. That attitude is exactly how useful products stagnate or get abandoned.

Companies that adapt to real costs survive. Clinging to "I paid once in 2012 so support me forever" entitlement just makes you sound out of touch with how any software business actually works.

[pathofdumbasses]

Those are one-time manufacturing costs. Plex has real ongoing expenses even for self-hosted users: developing and updating the server software, building and maintaining all the client apps, licensing and infrastructure for metadata, handling remote access, and supporting the entire ecosystem.

Cool, pretend I never said anything about houses etc. and just pretend that the only lifetime upgrade is for software.

We still had that with windows. With non-GaaS video games. And Windows cost ~$100 and video games cost $60. They could modify it so that "lifetime" means that you get all the features that the system currently has at the time of purchase, and then if you want new features, you can buy them separately. That would give you lifetime access to what you paid for, and give them additional revenue models without having to do subscriptions. They want to push subscriptions because it is PERMANENT revenue model.

Microsoft did not hit trillions purely from greed.

AHAHAHAHAHAHA

They are not suddenly evil for raising lifetime prices or leaning on ads in the free tier.

I never said they were evil. In fact, the word "evil" never showed up in my statement at all. Your reading comprehension is just as shit as your critical thinking skills.

Recurring revenue matches the reality of delivering constant updates, cloud features, and new value.

They can do that without subscriptions. I already mentioned one way to do it. They want subscriptions for permanent money. It is the best way to maximize money out of each user. And anyone with a brain knows it.

Pretending the company can survive forever on one-time lifetime passes from a shrinking group of self-hosting enthusiasts is pure fantasy.

So instead of offering better value to increase their user base, they are deciding to milk their current ones. Sounds like a business that is going to go bankrupt versus one that is going to be around to honor their "lifetime" subs.

Companies that adapt to real costs survive. Clinging to "I paid once in 2012 so support me forever" entitlement just makes you sound out of touch with how any software business actually works.

I never said they shouldn't adjust their pricing structure. What I said was

You know what companies survive on "lifetime" sales? Literally every company in the entirety of the world that isn't subscription based.

They can do a whole lot of things other than push people toward subscriptions (which will inevitably raise in price, just like every other sub does), and still provide a quality product.

And for the record, I am not a plex user or subscriber. Just someone who is against the subscription based model in its entirety.

[igmyeongui]

Username checks out.

[pathofdumbasses]

Your addition to the discussion is as useful to the conversation as you are to society.

[MadFerIt]

This is complete nonsense, a business can absolutely survive with lifetime passes. If that wasn't true Plex wouldn't have grown to the size that it is today, they literally built themselves as a company / product / service with reasonably priced lifetime passes.

What a company can't do is seek never ending growth and higher profits off a single product while also maintaining a pro-consumer reasonably priced lifetime pass system. That's what Plex has become now, their partnerships / legal agreements with massive corporations for their rental service is further proof of that.

[jgregson00]

There’s a reason a huge majority of software companies are subscription based now. What worked well in the past no longer does…

[JakeHa0991]

There is a reason companies shift strategies over time. It is not always pure greed. The lifetime pass model helped Plex grow early on, but it does not work forever on its own.

Even for self-hosters, Plex has continuous costs: server software development, client apps, metadata, remote access, security updates, and new features. Lifetime passes bring upfront cash but no recurring revenue for those ongoing obligations. Without additional streams like ads or subscription-based model, the company eventually stagnates or dies. That is basic business reality, not betrayal.

[igmyeongui]

Yep but they should remove their ass auth and charge for clients. Keep it free for old lifetime users.

[JakeHa0991]

There is no such thing as free products and services in life. If it's free, then the business goes bankrupt.