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Plex no Longer Offers Free Remote Playback for Personal Media
- palebt 2y agoSwitched from Plex to https://jellyfin.org/ https://jellyfin.org/ without much trouble
- orthoxerox 2y agoSeconding Jellyfin. I installed Tailscale on all my devices, including the media server, to achieve free remote playback without worrying about trying to secure the server against the whole Internet.
- mateus1 2y agoSame setup here, pretty nifty. I’d like to setup a reverse proxy inside the Tailscale network but I haven’t figured that out yet.
- jjice 2y agoI'm no expert, but I think you could have the reverse proxy node be the only thing whitelisted to be accepted by the nodes you want behind the proxy (via their tailscale IP). I believe this would all be done in their ACL JSON.
- pokemod97 2y agoTailscale offers a super basic reverse proxy called tailscale serve. Or baring that caddy has built in support. They have the full details for both in the tailscale docs.
- open-paren 2y agoI've recently been very happy with TSDProxy https://github.com/almeidapaulopt/tsdproxy https://github.com/almeidapaulopt/tsdproxy
- prophesi 2y agoAnd for those not ready to make a full switch, they can reside side-by-side without issue.
- Someone1234 2y agoTried switching, but on Apple TV the Plex app just streams flawlessly unlike Jellyfin which buffers continuously. But here is the thing: It is a wired Ethernet network between the server for both and the Apple TV, so there is absolutely no justification. Jellyfin is going to be THE answer one day, but still has some growing to do.
- stingraycharles 2y agoThe trick is to use InFuse for playback and Plex / Jellyfin for the backend. 0 issues, InFuse is much better at doing the playback correctly.
- wintermutestwin 2y agoI am using infuse to play directly from a samba share - what do I get from adding plex / jellyfin?
- Nullabillity 2y agoMy understanding is that Plex&Co's big selling point is transcoding, which might be valuable if your clients have less horsepower and don't natively support whatever format your content is in.
- that_lurker 2y agoMetadata, images and subtitles (+download)
- lurkertoanswer0 2y agoI've done both and the only major reason I used jellyfin was to track watching on that server rather than Infuse as for some reason Infuse tends to reset stats on me. Of course transcoding on the fly and stuff is there but I just want to stream the direct file to the tv so none of that matters. *edit: For anyone else reading down here the parent's solution was better for me vs Plex. Simply streaming through infuse via SMB removes all the issues I don't want to deal with with Plex as it has gotten worse over the years and has invaded my purely local setup more and more. As long as it is encoded in a way Infuse can read it works great. I didn't have a file Infuse couldn't play.
- herpdyderp 2y agoIs there an Apple Watch app for Jellyfin yet? (Not saying there is one for Plex, there still isn't AFAIK.)
- gclawes 2y agoMy biggest frustration with Jellyfin is mostly related to using custom or self-signed SSL certs, the clients can't seem to cope with that (especially on Google TV).
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- assbuttbuttass 2y agoLet's encrypt is free and easy to set up
- corint 2y agoI've got it behind a Caddy proxy, which then automagically sorts out Let's Encrypt for me. It works very well there, if that's any help to you?
- xela79 2y agoinfuse on apple tv/ios devices sonarr/radarr/bazarr dropping content on SMB share /done
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- sliken 2y agoAs plex got more annoying to use I switched to Jellyfin on my Roku. It's been great. Reading the threads it does seem like there's some issues on the Apple TV, but on the Roku it's great.
- dpcx 2y agoI don't understand "Plex is no longer going to offer remote playback for personal media as a free service" What cost does Plex incur when I watch something from my friends server? They're not footing the bill for bandwidth that I can tell, so why is there going to be a cost associated with this beyond "we can"?
- Tostino 2y agoThat this is absolutely a "because we can" situation. If it is using any significant resources of their own to serve it remotely, that's because they engineered it that way.
- JadeNB 2y ago> What cost does Plex incur when I watch something from my friends server? They're not footing the bill for bandwidth that I can tell, so why is there going to be a cost associated with this beyond "we can"? Agreed. The article says: > Plex says that it needs to raise prices to keep up with rising costs, and that the added funds will ensure that Plex is able to keep developing new features. and yet they also offer a lifetime pass. If I were considering paying a company that just did this, then I'm not sure I'd have much faith in the lifetime value of that lifetime pass.
- joshstrange 2y agoJust as a reference point. I bought Plex Pass Lifetime in 2014 (June) for $74.99. So I've already had just shy of 11 years of value for $74.99 which is an absolute steal (~$0.50/mo and it only gets better as time goes on). "Past performance is not indicative of future results." and all of that but just wanted to provide an example.
- richardlblair 2y agoI'm in the same boat - and if they came to me and said "If you can, an extra $20 would really go a long way", I'd probably give them another $20.
- 2y ago
- DataDaemon 2y agoGoodbye Plex, now Jellyfin is my new friend.
- jisnsm 2y agoPersonal media, cough cough
- iugtmkbdfil834 2y agoThere is no cough cough here. I own a non-insignificant amount of dvds and blurays, which plex helps my family watch in a relatively painless manner. But they seem to try to make it more painful.
- sliken 2y agoBeware, once you get used to watching blurays streaming video looks like crap.
- joshstrange 2y agoIf the server owner has Plex Pass then non-paying members can still stream remotely for free. I have plex pass lifetime and have for almost a decade, best $70 I ever spent. EDIT: It has been over a decade (June 2014) and it was $74.99
- Gareth321 2y agoExactly, plus they're announcing the removal of the fee for mobile apps. So if the server owner has Plex Pass, the remote experience is now totally free.
- joshstrange 2y agoWhich is nice since when I added my family I had to hand-hold to make sure they paid that 1-time fee and didn't sign up for Plex Pass by accident.
- windexh8er 2y agoSame here - and you can still buy Plex Lifetime Pass for the current rate of $119.99. If you're on the fence it goes up to $249.99 on April 29th. From the blog: "The price increase applies to new and existing subscriptions, with the exception of existing Lifetime Plex Pass holders. The good news is that you can still purchase a Lifetime Plex Pass subscription at the current price of $119.99 USD* before the increase goes into effect on April 29, 2025." [0] Also with respect to streaming costs - as long as you have a Pass there's no cost: "IMPORTANT NOTE FOR CURRENT PLEX PASS HOLDERS: For users who have an active Plex Pass subscription, remote playback will continue to be available to you without interruption from any Plex Media Server, after these changes go into effect. When running your own Plex Media Server as a subscriber, other users to whom you have granted access can also stream from the server (whether local or remote), without ANY additional charge—not even a mobile activation fee." [0] Had they changed that they'd probably be experiencing additional lost revenue. Either way, glad I got Lifetime back when it was sub $100. I think it's worth it for those of us who enable family members to leverage our deployments. [0] https://www.plex.tv/blog/important-2025-plex-updates/ https://www.plex.tv/blog/important-2025-plex-updates/
- tomaskafka 2y agoAbsolutely expected. I don’t believe in any attempts for smartness on server side anyway, I just expose my NAS (ftp/sftp/webdav), and install smarter client like Infuse that can handle playing from it.
- reverendsteveii 2y agoEven stealing has become enshittified.
- dml2135 2y agoApparently, this is not just putting Plex's own proxy/DNS service behind a paywall -- they will also gate some small features (such as the "custom server access urls") that are necessary for one to run their own reverse proxy and DDNS. As in, Plex will prevent you remotely accessing your own server, even if you're not using Plex's services for that remote access. So this is purely extractive move, and not really based on their costs at all.
- inversetelecine 2y agoFor my family using Tailscale + Infuse (AppleTV/iOS/MacOS) works fine. I run a TrueNAS machine as my SMB target, point Infuse there and I can stream from anywhere. Plex might have more features, but I found not having to install (plex/jfin/etc) server software worth it. To each their own.
- aeturnum 2y agoPlex is in a tough spot. Their main market is likely people who have large libraries of copyright-infringing media, but they can't officially acknowledge that. They want to get revenue somehow to fund the development. My guess is that this is trying to get some money out of folks who have substantial sharing networks but are not paying for plex pass, which seems fair? I think Plex's software is only so-so and I don't love how they make money, but I do love having a streaming server that's actually maintained and understand the weird spot they are in revenue-wise.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- lxn 2y agoI think they also try to provide their own content, blending your library with what they can license for you. It would be cool if they combined your library with a catalogue similar to Netflix in one app. My pet peeve is that they focus too much on that side of the business (adding new content) while ignoring the streaming experience. There are feature requests on the forum that are being ignored. For example, I would like music artwork per song instead of per album so kids can find their songs more easily. I would also like offline content to be available in the standard catalogue without going through "Downloads". The device that plays the content should prefer that downloaded copy instead of fetching it again via a network when you play it. And so on... As someone already said, this is probably intended to squeeze some money from the illegal content streaming farms before they close them. They are probably forced to suspend anything suspicious by the legal departments, and this way, they get a bit out of it.
- aeturnum 2y agoYah - they just announced they are ceasing to maintain their "watch together" feature, which I love and use often. I get that they are a small company and must focus their attention but their priorities do not feel like those of a company that's funded by their users. That said, their fees are quite low so I suspect they are in a situation where most people won't pay more - kind of a tragedy of the commons for a free-at-point-of-service product.
- piyuv 2y agoI couldn’t get remote playback working anyway, I guess due to my isp plex had to use their proxy and this caused clients to receive 480p video
- johntitorjr 2y ago[dead]
- AdmiralAsshat 2y agoMeanwhile I'm still using Kodi, and wondering why people still use that weird proprietary fork that seems to get worse and more expensive by the day.
- K7PJP 2y agoPlex just works, it's not weird at all. Also, I prefer proprietary software. It pays my bills.
- blactuary 2y agoIt has gotten consistently better for years, the core product of streaming from server your own content from server to device is and has always worked great, and the lifetime pass is an absolute steal at $120. I paid $75 a long time ago and have gotten so much value for my money. There is a thread of anti-Plex talk all over the place that I really don't understand. I don't think there is even any XBMC/Kodi code in it anymore. I am a longtime user of Kodi/XBMC back to the soft-modding an OG Xbox days, and I eventually moved to Plex for the client-server model. It was and still is a great piece of software
- jauntywundrkind 2y agoI was on the Jellyfin train for a while. It has enough frustrations (absolutely forsaken anti-support for subdirectories, trashfire Chromecast sync/control issues) that I switched back to UPnP/DLNA. It's been pretty good! Gerbera has worked pretty well as a MediaServer. Every TV I have has a builtin MediaRenderer, and some of my controllers like BubbleUPnP on my phone let me cast to Chromecast. I love that gmrender-ressurect is a really good MediaRenderer I can run on laptops and desktops. Bubble also has a media transcoder that as part of their pro package, which was pretty affordable & an easy to use proxy.
- asynchronousx 2y agoPlease everyone switch over to Jellyfin and begin contributing to the open source apps and clients
- mieses 2y agoJellyfin Android TV client and web client work great.
- panick21_ 2y agoI would pay for Plex to disable all the bullshit they are trying to push into my experience.