Plex’s 200% Lifetime Pass price hike tries forcing users to another subscription

Plex 将“永久会员”价格上调 200%，意在引导用户转向订阅制

As of July 1, at 12:01 am UTC—or June 30 at 8:01 pm ET—people seeking access to Plex’s media server features through a one-time purchase will have to pay $750. That’s three times the current price of $250. The new price will not affect current Lifetime Plex Pass holders. 自协调世界时（UTC）7 月 1 日凌晨 12:01（即美东时间 6 月 30 日晚 8:01）起，希望通过一次性买断方式获取 Plex 媒体服务器功能的用户，将需要支付 750 美元。这相当于目前 250 美元价格的三倍。新价格不会影响现有的 Plex 永久会员。

A Lifetime Plex Pass allows you to stream from your own Plex Media Server to a device connected to your own network, to stream from the server remotely, and to allow others to stream remotely from your server. When first launched in 2012, a Lifetime Plex Pass was $75. In 2014, Plex increased the price to $150 because “at 2.5x the price of a yearly, it was priced in an unsustainable way for us,” Plex said in a blog post at the time. Plex 永久会员资格允许用户将个人 Plex 媒体服务器的内容串流至连接到同一网络的设备，支持远程串流，并允许他人远程访问你的服务器。2012 年首次推出时，永久会员的价格为 75 美元。2014 年，Plex 将价格提高到 150 美元，当时 Plex 在博客中表示：“其价格仅为年度订阅费的 2.5 倍，这对我们来说是不可持续的。”

Eventually, lifetime passes were available for $120 for years until March 2025, when the price skyrocketed to $250. That brings us to today’s announcement. In an email and blog post to customers today, Plex said that it sold lifetime passes early in its existence “because we knew many of our customers would rather pay a higher, one-time fee for software that they can depend on every day.” 此后，永久会员价格曾长期维持在 120 美元，直到 2025 年 3 月飙升至 250 美元。这就引出了今天的公告。在今天发给客户的电子邮件和博客文章中，Plex 表示，其在早期销售永久会员是因为“我们知道许多客户更愿意为一款每天都能依赖的软件支付更高的一次性费用”。

However, as evidenced by several price hikes, Plex has struggled to reconcile lifetime passes with its own financial goals. The company’s message says: We’ve considered eliminating the Lifetime Plex Pass in the past, given that recurring subscriptions help us sustain long-term development, but we know it’s still a valuable option for many in our community. So instead of retiring it, we’re keeping it available at a price that reflects the real, ongoing value of the software we’re committed to building and maintaining for years to come. 然而，从多次涨价可以看出，Plex 一直难以平衡永久会员与公司财务目标之间的矛盾。公司在公告中称：“考虑到循环订阅有助于我们维持长期发展，我们过去曾考虑过取消永久会员，但我们知道这对社区中的许多人来说仍然是一个有价值的选择。因此，我们没有将其取消，而是以一个能够反映我们致力于在未来多年持续构建和维护软件的真实价值的价格，继续提供该选项。”

The 200 percent price hike and Plex’s admission that it has mulled killing Lifetime Passes illustrate Plex’s shifting priorities as it seeks profitability. Notably, Plex didn’t announce any pricing hikes for its monthly or annual subscription tiers. 此次 200% 的涨价以及 Plex 承认曾考虑取消永久会员，凸显了该公司在追求盈利过程中优先级的转变。值得注意的是，Plex 并未宣布对其月度或年度订阅方案进行任何涨价。

In its blog, Plex offered further reasoning for the upcoming price hike: Over the years, as our software and product has evolved, the breadth of features and benefits included with your Plex Pass has expanded. This increase ensures we can continue to invest resources into building and maintaining the Plex personal media software, while continuing to offer a Lifetime option. Plex 在博客中为即将到来的涨价提供了进一步的理由：“多年来，随着我们的软件和产品不断演进，Plex 会员所包含的功能和权益范围也在不断扩大。此次涨价确保了我们能够继续投入资源来构建和维护 Plex 个人媒体软件，同时继续提供永久会员选项。”

As noted in the announcement, Plex would rather people pay monthly or annually for its media server features than a one-time fee. With annual subscriptions currently $70, it would take 11 years for a $750 lifetime subscription to be a better value. 正如公告中所述，Plex 更希望用户通过月度或年度订阅来使用其媒体服务器功能，而非一次性买断。鉴于目前的年度订阅费为 70 美元，用户需要使用 11 年，750 美元的永久会员才显得更划算。

Plex’s price hike is an extreme example of streaming service providers continuously increasing prices amid struggles to reach and maintain profitability while keeping prices stable and dealing with ongoing costs, like licensing fees for rental movies and app updates. Plex 的涨价是流媒体服务提供商在努力实现盈利、维持价格稳定以及应对租赁电影许可费和应用更新等持续成本的过程中，不断提高价格的一个极端案例。

Plex claims to be working on numerous new features for its platform, including: adding all server and library management features currently available on app.plex.tv to Plex’s mobile and, where applicable, TV apps; “boosting dialogue and normalizing loudness,” per today’s announcement; transcoding improvements; IPv6 support; and the abilities to group downloads by show, automatically download new episodes, and make and edit playlists in mobile apps. Plex 声称正在为其平台开发众多新功能，包括：将目前 app.plex.tv 上所有的服务器和媒体库管理功能添加到 Plex 的移动端及相关电视应用中；根据今天的公告，还将实现“增强对话和标准化音量”；改进转码功能；支持 IPv6；以及按剧集分组下载、自动下载新剧集，以及在移动应用中创建和编辑播放列表的功能。

New features that Plex has added recently include the ability to create custom metadata agents and an open API for server integrations. Beyond new features, Plex has previously cited rising costs for the hike, including supporting various types of devices and codecs. Plex 最近添加的新功能包括创建自定义元数据代理的能力，以及用于服务器集成的开放 API。除了新功能外，Plex 此前还曾将成本上升作为涨价的理由，包括对各种设备和编解码器的支持成本。

Plex moving beyond media serving: Plex’s various forays into areas outside of its original media server business also contribute to its rising costs. In recent years, Plex has expanded from a media server company to a streaming service provider that has hundreds of free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels, rents out movies, and dabbles in social features. It also made a failed venture into gaming. Plex 超越媒体服务器业务：Plex 在其原始媒体服务器业务之外的各种尝试也导致了成本上升。近年来，Plex 已从一家媒体服务器公司扩展为流媒体服务提供商，拥有数百个免费广告支持电视（FAST）频道，提供电影租赁，并涉足社交功能。它还曾尝试进军游戏领域，但以失败告终。

Legacy customers, however, have grown wary of Plex’s expanding interests and their potential impact on Plex’s media server users. While adding streaming and social features, Plex killed free remote streaming access and its Watch Together feature and issued a controversial app redesign. 然而，老用户对 Plex 不断扩张的业务兴趣及其对媒体服务器用户可能产生的影响感到担忧。在增加流媒体和社交功能的同时，Plex 取消了免费远程串流访问和“一起看”（Watch Together）功能，并推出了备受争议的应用重新设计。

Plex also has reason to put more focus on its streaming business since more people have been using Plex’s online streaming service than its media server capabilities since 2022, Scott Hancock, Plex’s then-VP of marketing, said in 2023. Plex 也有理由将更多精力放在流媒体业务上，因为 Plex 时任营销副总裁 Scott Hancock 在 2023 年曾表示，自 2022 年以来，使用 Plex 在线流媒体服务的人数已经超过了使用其媒体服务器功能的人数。

The good news is that Plex has given months of warning before jacking up Lifetime Plex Pass prices. But as Plex seeks profitability, it will continue evolving from the pure-play, affordable media server company that it originally was and, in turn, drum up interest for rival platforms, like Jellyfin, Emby, and Kodi. 好消息是，Plex 在大幅提高永久会员价格前给了用户几个月的预警。但随着 Plex 寻求盈利，它将继续从最初那个纯粹、实惠的媒体服务器公司转型，这反过来也会激发用户对 Jellyfin、Emby 和 Kodi 等竞争对手平台的兴趣。