That's all folks, Plex is starting to charge for sharing
That's all folks, Plex is starting to charge for sharing
cross-posted from: https://poptalk.scrubbles.tech/post/2333639
I was just forwarded this someone in my household who watches our server. That's it folks. I've been a hold out for a long time, but this is honestly it.
They want me to pay to stream content that I bought from my hardware transcoded also on my hardware.
I'll say it. As of today, I say Plex is dead. Luckily I've been setting up Jellyfin, I guess it's time to make it production ready.
Edit: I have a Plex Pass. More comments saying “Just buy a plex pass” are seriously not getting it. I have a Plex Pass and my users are still getting this.
And for the thousandth person who wants to say the same things to me:
- YES I know I'm unaffected as a Plex Pass owner.
- My users were immediately angry at it, which made me angry. Our users don't understand what plex pass is, and they shouldn't have to, that's why I had it. The fact that they were pinged even though it should have kept working is horribly sloppy
- Plex is still removing functionality. I don't care that "People should pay their fair share". If Plex wants to put every new feature behind a paywall, that's completely okay. They are removing functionality.
- "But they have cloud costs". Remote streaming is negligible to them. It's a dynamic DNS service. Plex client logs in, asks where server is, plex cloud responds with the IP and port of where server is located. That's it.
- "Good luck finding another remote streaming" - Again, Plex just opens up an IP and port. Jellyfin also just opens up an IP and port (Hold on jellyfin folks I know, security, that's a separate conversation). All "remote streaming" is is their dynamic dns. Literal pennies to them. Know what actually is costing them money? Hosting all of that ad-supported "free" content that they're probably losing money on.
In short, I don't care how you justify it. Plex is doing something shitty. They're removing functionality that has been free for years. I'm not responding to any more of your comments repeating the same arguments over and over.
You're viewing a single thread.
I never got the idea of selfhosting but paying (except for enterprise-grade support or donations) anyway.
You know all the certs and security and port stuff you need to do? Plex does that. You just download the app, point it at your folders with media, and you’re all set both at your home and beyond it. There is no self hosted solution that is that turnkey. I really don’t understand how so many people don’t see the appeal of that. It makes quasi-selfhosting possible for people with far less technical knowledge than those of us here.
I could write a less than one page bullet point instruction and virtually anyone who knows how to work a desktop computer could get a server up and running in one or two hours tops. If they have any computer experience, more like 30 minutes.
What’s more, people with literally no computer knowledge can easily open the app and watch your stuff. They just make an account, download the app, and they’re off to the races. TV, tablet, doesn’t matter. There is no self hosted solution that is nearly as streamlined as Plex. I say this as somebody who likes jellyfin a lot. They are completely different experiences that require completely different levels of knowledge
I run into you again! This time I get to wholeheartedly agree with you! You are spot on and nailed it.
I use Plex for exactly the reasons you said because when I set it up I didn’t know anything about self hosting a media server and I wanted to share with family in other locations. I keep it because it’s so easy for my older, less tech savvy family members to access so I don’t have to be their support person for it.
I’d consider Jellyfin if the end user access was more plug and play.
The biggest thing about this is I don’t get why OP is so annoyed. If you have a Plex Pass you’re not impacted, you can still share and your users can still access your library for free, they can’t share with you without a Plex Pass but who cares.
I’d consider Jellyfin if the end user access was more plug and play.
It's about as plug and play as any other website. They just open the app, type in the URL, and log in with their credentials and...that's it.
After setting up an elaborate VPN scheme
No such scheme required
So you're telling people to expose Jellyfin to the internet?
I'm not telling anyone what to do, I'm just saying the VPN is not necessary. Mine is exposed.
It's not advisable to expose Jellyfin to the internet. Telling people they don't need VPN means you are encouraging them to expose it to the internet.
It's not advisable to expose Jellyfin to the internet.
Wrong.
Telling people they don't need VPN means you are encouraging them to expose it to the internet.
Wrong again.
So you don't have an actual argument and can only say it's wrong?
Jellyfin or Plex, needs to be done if you want remote connections without a VPN
You don't technically need it on Plex. They do have a relay feature.
The relay feature is terrible though. It ruins video quality for any stream over 1mbps unless you pay and then it still ruins any stream over 2mbps. Any good plex server will have direct connect enabled just like jellyfin.
What's the security risk you worry about having a plex media server or jellyfin server listening on the Internet?
What about combining sources? Because in plex I can search all libraries. Mine or external.
I’d consider Jellyfin if the end user access was more plug and play.
Honestly if it could support multi-server login cleanly, that would be the trick right there.
That said, haven't had any issues, but I did have to help family set it up the first time.
eyyyyyy
I LOVE Jellyfin but can only imagine the amount of work I'd have to do if I tried to get my parents and in-laws successfully using it. We all just split the cost of lifetime Plex pass the last time it was on sale.
can only imagine the amount of work I'd have to do
Insert url. Insert login credentials.
I see you know as much about Jellyfin as you do about my in-laws.
I'm sure he doesn't know your family as well as you do, but as for jellyfin, that's exactly what you do, open it in a browser and stream, I don't understand what's your objection to that
The giant unsecured barn door that is the Jellyfin backend
@MaggiWuerze@feddit.org nailed it. Jellyfin has security issues. It's better than it used to be, but it's still bad.
What's a url?
Do you mean the Facebook thing? I tried to Google the internet from the Facebooks and it didn't work. I called Comcast and I told them the problem and now I have 400 TV channels. They took your computer box, said it was bad for security. Something about shredding it. Anyway, can you get the internet to Google for me?
Insert virus on your server.
You know all the certs and security and port stuff you need to do? Plex does that. You just download the app, point it at your folders with media, and you’re all set both at your home and beyond it.
I am just gonna read your comment until here, Plex does shit if you are CGNATED, and as it is 2025 I suppose most users are, I still needed to expose through IPv6 with a reverse proxy, using a VPS or a VPN to access my Plex Server, so yeah, Plex hasn't helped me at all since many years ago with the noob friendly approach they have.
EDIT: Oh and their relay feature is garbage, even for Plex Pass users, and I happen to be a lifetime one.
Any time you rely on another company to handle your data, you are beholden to their whims, end of story. Don't like what they're doing? Too bad. Give up the convenience and host it yourself, or continue to be a slave to their corporate interests.
Turns out some of us make compromises and you’re just going to have to get over that.
You use no services that have some info on you? Not one subscription service? Not one social media account? Nothing Google or Apple or Microsoft?
Been slowly chipping away at those for the last decade (could have gone way faster but I'm lazy), and I'm almost completely google-free. I dont use any microsoft products at home (work forces me to), and Apple can eat my ass. My phone is a completely de-googled GrapheneOS device (I don't have an issue relying on companies for hardware, just software), and hopefully in the future a Liberux or Pinephone linux phone.
I self-host my own movies, music, and cloud storage. I also host my own chat service for friends and family, built on top of XMPP. The services i do use are generally very privacy respecting like Signal for people outside of my social sphere, or freedom respecting like Lemmy (mostly weaned off of reddit).
Ok so you expect us all to listen to your lectures and operate under a standard you yourself don’t because you, as you put it, “are lazy” and are “chipping away at it.” Got it.
Ahh there it is, I knew you'd do that.
I abide by my own lectures, I am actively putting effort into it and am 99% of the way there, which is 100% more than you.
i don’t use Google or social media other than Lemmy. You know nothing about me. Did you know I was gonna do that too Nostradamus?
Fuck off
Getting a little touchy are we? Try deep breaths, it helps with the anger issues 😉
Or Lemmy
Downvote without explanation. Nice!
?
I assume they replied to you after someone downvoted you but before all the upvotes.
That was indeed the case. I suppose the comment didn't contribute much.
Just tired of seeing perfectly solid comments being downvoted with no reason provided 🤷
🤷♂️
Completely agree, and I think it’s fair for them to make it a paid feature. It’s kind of like using wireguard yourself to create a whole network vs Tailscale.
Outside of portforwarding plex ports on your router though? But yeah plex does provide a service and it is asinine the pushback this is getting.
For a good while, Plex was the only game in town that did the job well, and they put the transcoding feature behind the paywall.
Given it wasn't that expensive for a lifetime pass a number of years ago (I remember it was cheaper than a game anyway) and they still seemed relatively user-centric at the time, many people like me felt like they were supporting developers building something that was useful to us.
I still run my Plex server since it's not really costing me not to, but I've been running Jellyfin too for a little while and it more or less can do the same job these days
Yup, for the time it was worth it. I got about 7 years out of my "lifetime" plex pass, and I got it on sale. All in all, I won't say the money was wasted.
It's 100% a waste if anyone pays for that BS monthly streaming fee though.
Wait so you've got a lifetime plex pass already? Then literally nothing changes for you or anyone that is streaming from your server.
Yeah, they're just bitching. Pretty funny imo
I put my chips (£100) on Emby.
I haven't regretted my purchase. I can't sell anyone on much either, because Emby does all the same as other services, except they've kept adding features while Plex kept doing the Google thing and taking them away. CPU transcoding is free I believe, as is remote streaming up to 10 devices for each user.. Idk I paid pretty early on, but lifetime license is where it's at. Subscriptions just open your asshole for greedy CEOs to fuck you. Best to keep subscriptions voluntary, like donating on Github or Patreon
Emby was borne out of classic workplace toxicity, in that Jellyfin was becoming too corporate so a couple devs forked off to keep it clean.
I think you have that backwards. Jellyfin is a fork of emby
Yeah; Emby was originally called MediaBrowser and was a free open source project. 'MediaBrowsers' developers decided to move to a closed source paid model to establish some more consistent income and support the dedicated developers they have. Thus Emby was born.
Some users were really unhappy with this decision and forked MediaBrowsers last release to create Jellyfin. Their development has been quite a bit slower, but they've made some significant strides in recent years. It's a more and more attractive option.
One of my biggest reasons for sticking with Emby (besides already having a lifetime premier license) is the dedicated clients available on more platforms. Xbone is my primary streaming device, besides android: Emby has a dedicated xbox client you can install that will take full advantage of the the hardware(more content direct plays, HEVC video for example), where as Jellyfin you've gotta use the web browser which is cumbersome and forces the server to transcode media a lot more.
Indeed I did, I removed my speculative comments..
I'm pretty happy with Emby, which also lets me easily do remote streaming.
In the case of plex, it's not 100% selfhosted. There's a dependence on plexs public infrastructure for user management/authentication. They also help bypass NAT by proxying connections through their servers so you don't have to setup port forwarding and can even easily escape double NAT situations.
I can understand paying for that convenience, but cost keeps rising while previously free features continue to get locked behind paywalls.
Tbh, having users required to authenticate with plex.tv was enough for me to look elsewhere. The biggest reason to self host for me is to remove dependency on public services.
The central user management is not a feature, it’s a hook to force people to pay for self-hosted software.
Can't say I disagree.
100% my experience as well. The external authentication requirement is what made my choose Jellyfin a couple years ago.
When they monitor what you watch and who you share it with, it’s enshittified. Fuck Plex. I used to be a lifetime drum thumper. Stopped a few years ago.
Plex doesn’t care about you, your comfort, ease. It wants your money and it wants to monitor and control what you do with your own data.
Fuck. That.
With Plex, you're getting the easy ability to grant access to users. You get a single pane that can search across multiple Plex instances, and NAT traversal/port forwarding. Jellyfin makes you figure that out yourself.
It's not exactly difficult if you use Tailscale or really any VPN. So I really don't see the value for the cost; if you're even considering self hosting a Plex server/instance, there's a list of basic knowledge you should have or learn (like what you mentioned).
Its not difficult for technical people like you or me, but my friend who just wants to watch their favorite show on my Plex on their TV won't know how to traffic engineer the traffic over a Tailscale network to my network. My mom won't be installing Tailscale on her laptop and phone.
I'm also not particularly happy with giving a bunch of people VPB access to my setup. Or other potential complications that come with that setup.
I know enough to be able to lock it down, but I dont want the hassle. And other people will want it less.
As long as the technical person does all of the setup on their end, the non technical person only has to enter a domain and port in their jellyfin client.
If you want to be on the hook for all IT requests from folks you share with, this is a fine approach. There are people out there who honestly don't have a problem with that and more power to them. I doubt they are the majority, and a lot of selfhosters completely ignore this aspect of software. There is a reason non-free services exist beyond just "capitalism bad." I mean, capitalism indeed bad, but your time is worth something.
I guess I haven't noticed that. The non technically literate folk I know use smart TVs, or can download Jellyfin from an app store. Then they just use the URL when the app asks for it.
There's no other configuring to do on their end.
They also need to run a VPN client.
Because you're not putting bare jellyfin on the internet, right? You shouldn't be doing that for most services in the first place, but doubly so for something that has a bunch of APIs that require no authentication: https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin/issues/5415
Put it behind a reverse proxy!
Great, so now the unauthenticated APIs are proxied instead of accessed directly. That changes nothing, it is still vulnerable.
I'm not sure if you know this, but...that doesn't fix most of the security issues in the linked list. All the reverse proxy does is handle hostname resolution and TLS termination (if you are using TLS). If the application being proxies still has an unauthenticated API, anyone can access it. If there's an RCE vulnerability in any of them, you might get hacked.
I run Jellyfin publicly, but I do it behind a separate, locked-down reverse proxy (e.g., it explicitly hangs up any request for a Host header other than Jellyfin's), in a kubernetes cluster, and I keep its pod isolated in its own namespace with restricted access to everything local except to my library via read-only NFS volumes hosted on a separate TrueNAS box. If there is any hack, all they get access to is a container that can read my media files. Even that kind of bothers me, honestly.
The overwhelming majority of Jellyfin users do not take precautions like this and are likely pretty vulnerable. Plex has a security team to address vulnerabilities when they happen, so those users would likely be a lot safer. I appreciate the love for FOSS on Lemmy, but it is scary how little most folks here acknowledge the tradeoffs they are making.
I've spoken out on this same issue before... and as a previous security instructor/researcher... it's fucking scary how many people shit on Plex for a platform that has had known vulnerabilities in auth for 4 years now, that's existed since the previous code-base... so at least 7 years old and those issues existed in the previous emby codebase going back over a decade.
Plex isn't perfect... there's risks involved there too... but at least when something is brought up as a significant risk it seems to get fixed outside of the implicit risks of the Plex org itself.
All I read in these threads is effectively "WAAAH I don't WANNA pay!"... Without realizing that the payment gave them something significantly more secure.
It’s not exactly difficult if you use Tailscale or really any VPN. So I really don’t see the value for the cost;
Getting everyone that streams from your server to use tailscale or any other VPN every time they want to watch stuff from your server on any device they own is very difficult and basically a no-go. As someone that tried getting people who are using my plex server to use Tailscale so they could access my Overseer to request movies/shows, and basically no one would, it's a deal breaker.
I paid for a lifetime license years ago which is significantly cheaper than that.
I will say, I really want someone* to make a Jellyfin aggregator so you can use multiple servers at once.
*Not me.
Take HomeAssistant for example: you’re free to use it self-hosted, but as soon as you want to expose it securely through the Internet, there’s need for infrastructure that has costs, both in materials and labor. In HomeAssistant’s case, it’s NabuCasa that does it, and costs money, and helps fund the work of HomeAssistant’s developers.
Having things free (libre) and open source is a blessing, but we have become used, entitled, even spoiled, to enjoy the work of very specialized people for free. That’s not always feasible.
Another example, Zabbix, is totally open source and free, they only charge for support and training if you ask for them. It has worked for them for many years, but if they start to struggle with funding, I’d understand if they charged for it.
Home Assistant doesn't require to pay for anything at any point in time for any reason. If you want to expose your instance to the web, they have all the documents on how to do it yourself. There's absolutely nothing "hidden" behind a paywall. The only reason to say is if you want Nabu Casa to handle exposing your instance to the internet and various cloud services like Google Assistant/Alexa. The reason to pay Nabu Casa is if you don't have the technical know how (or lazy like me) and to help fund Home Assistant (which I want).
That's all to say that Plex and Home Assistant are not similar in their pay scheme. It'd be more akin if Jellyfin started charging users to allow a one click way to stream outside the home with no obligation to.