Plex has to cave and raise its prices after a decade — act now and lock in for life before it happens

Everything is getting more expensive and we can't escape it. Unfortunately, for Plex users, that now includes the media software's premium tier, Plex Pass.

In fairness to Plex, the company has held out longer than most, with this marking its first price increase in a decade. But rising costs mean some of that burden has to be passed down to us.

The good news is that the new prices don't go into effect until April 29, leaving you with just over a month to lock in for life at the current price.

Personal streaming service

Plex Pass Lifetime Membership: $119.99 at Plex

You can try Plex for free, but to really power it up you need to upgrade to Plex Pass. It unlocks advanced features such as hardware transcoding, DVR functionality for live TV, ad skipping, HDR and much, much more. From April 29 a lifetime license will cost more than double at $250, so act now and lock in at the current price.

✅Perfect for: Organizing and streaming libraries of personal video and audio content, live TV and DVR.

❌Avoid if: You don't have your own library of media to use, or if you don't have something you can dedicate to running a server.

👉See at: Plex

A lifetime license right now at $120 is the absolute best value if you're entertaining using Plex at any point, or if you currently pay for it monthly or yearly.

Here's what the prices will look like from April 29:

• Monthly: $6.99 
• Yearly: $69.99 
• Lifetime: $249.99

Only existing lifetime members will be grandfathered in at the current price. If you subscribe monthly or yearly, you'll be paying the new rates once they come into effect.

It'll cost $2 a month or $30 per year more on top of the existing rates, but you get the best value still by paying for the longer subscriptions.

There are also changes coming to the Plex mobile apps and to remote playback. In the case of the latter, it will no longer be offered for free and will be rolled into Plex Pass. Existing subscribers and those who have access to a subscriber's server will be uninterrupted.

In conjunction with this, there is a new Remote Watch Pass being introduced which allows remote streaming, without the need to get the full Plex Pass.

"Our brand-new subscription offering, Remote Watch Pass, allows individual users to remotely stream media from any personal media server to which they have access. This is a great option for users who don’t run their own server and are looking to stream from a server belonging to a friend or family member who does not have a Plex Pass. It’s also a good alternative for server owners who may not need the full feature offering of a Plex Pass, but are looking for a more cost-effective option to access their media remotely. Beginning April 29, 2025, Remote Watch Pass will be available for an introductory price of $1.99/month or $19.99/year."

The mobile app will no longer require payment to unlock the over 1-minute playback restriction. Playing content through these apps over a local network will now be free and unlimited.

Nobody ever likes price rises, not least Plex, commended for holding out for so long. The new prices will allow the company to keep investing and growing the product, and who knows, maybe it'll be another 10 years before we see another increase.

But you have until April 29 to get locked in for the significantly lower price of $120 for life. I'd definitely recommend doing that.