Yep, definitely heading for bankruptcy.
this post was submitted on 19 May 2026
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Hmm, perhaps I should sell my lifetime pass. I won't, but I should. (Switched to Jellyfin long ago)
To be clear, you still need your own HW and electricity, right?
Jellyfin
Jellyfin Lifetime Pass continues to be better value.
Welp, looks like I'm never buying, and therefore using plex
As if there weren't enough reasons to use jellyfin already.
almost a fucking grand for a media server that you host yourself, and only really rely on their login servers for. Can anyone else say "enshittification"?
They provide the apps, metadata servers, and relay service. It's a lifetime pass. IMO that's worth the price it used to be, $70 or whatever. The new price is just absurd, they want you to pay periodically for life because people spend more that way.
Do they provide the metadata services though? Pretty sure that's still handled by imdb and such
Been looking at jelly fin. I have a lifetime with Plex but it feels like they're headed for bankruptcy anyway.
And seems the same. Only problem is that the docker server keeps crashing on my Synology unfortunately
They have a sorta proprietary metadata service that is presumably based on imdb, thetvdb, etc. but they also handle detection and collection of metadata regardless of where the information ultimately comes from. It's nothing that Jellyfin doesn't do though.
I'm sticking with Plex since I have the lifetime pass too, but the writing's on the wall, I'm ready to switch to Jellyfin whenever Plex dies or ruins itself
That’s where I’m at. Ride my <$80 lifetime license till the wheels fall off and see where jellyfin is at that point.
Exactly my sentiment too. I already paid for it, may as well use it until they make some move that makes the jump to Jellyfin worth it. Not to mention Jellyfin is still fresh on the scene and I personally think it still needs a few more years to make a more seamless changeover from Plex for me and everyone else I've granted access to.
I think software subscriptions are a scam, but I don’t mind buying a perpetual license that is only good up to a certain version with additional fees for newer versions. It’s also fair to charge a recurring fee for something that has recurring hosting costs like a VPN, cloud storage, etc.
If they weren’t such dipshits, the “lifetime pass” should have been a perpetual license you can keep using as long as you want, but charge an optional fee for newer versions if you want to upgrade and get more features. They should also have offered a hosted service to make your instance available to others and charge a monthly fee for that. I think people would’ve been fine with all that.
I've always thought the licensing for Jetbrains IDEs is a pretty fair way of licensing software. If you stop subscribing you still get access to the last version of the software you paid for but you don't get new versions anymore. And if you stay subscribed you get a loyalty discount after your first and second years. So it provides an incentive to stay subscribed long term but if you do leave you still get access perpetually to the last version you bought
I think thats really fair too. I might adopt that for my startup.
I use a package at work that lets you update within the major version. So you won't get the bells and whistles of the new one, but you'll get security updates and big fixes for 2 years or so. After that, you're using a mature and polished product that you can ride another 10 years if you want.
Well I don't like seeing well reasoned, thoughtful comments in my hate thread. We are supposed to be kicking them while they're down! Not pointing out how a small change would ameliorate the issue and fix everything!
Couldn't pay me to use that software lol
Used Kodi and now using Jellyfin.
I saw this email and it just read as a desperate cash grab for a company that doesnt plan to be around in 3 more years. Pathetic.
my lifetime pass for jellyfin cost me $0, pretty good value
Apparently they are going to DOUBLE that amount every year! Outrageous!
I didn't get into self-hosting until recently, and people recommended Jellyfin, so I don't even know what I'm missing with Plex, if anything. It feels like Jellyfin does everything I need.
You’re missing the early days when plex lifetime pass was ~$50usd and jellyfin wasn't a thing (that I know of). I believe Kodi was the only real competitor at the time, and it was much less friendly.
Plex has slowly moved in a less user friendly direction, but still meets my needs and I’ve easily gotten over $750 in value from the…almost 20 years, wow…I’ve been using it.
You’re missing getting to pay for it. Imagine how good it would feel to see $750 less in your bank account.
I mean Plex definitely has a value add. Around here people will scoff but Plex is far easier to work with for non technical users.
If you shared your library externally Plex was definitely easier it's just that they have started to extract value from that which does suck.
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And they'll likely "forget" you are lifetime as often with them as they did with us early adopters who got it for cheap.
There's a reason I use Jellyfin, now. Well, more than one.
Plex kept trying to charge me again, and every time I looked at it there was more clutter and spam being forced in front of my face by their "partners."
Kodi on device, great interface especially when you are using touch, if I need remote access I swap to Jellyfin. There's even plugins to sync between the two so your stats and history don;t get messed up by using both.
People still use plex?
Jellyfin has been very slow for me and buggy especially when it comes to UI and if you try anything fancy like the sync play stuff. I tried it again not long ago and it just pales in comparison. Don't get me wrong as a free offering it's fantastic but I paid for a lifetime sub for Plex years ago, this just works.
Yes. I prefer Jellyfin, but I have three friends with media servers and Plex is the only way to easily connect to all of them at the same time.
I wish Jellyfin had a federation feature.
I do. It works well enough and my grandmother doesn't have to configure Tailscale. Would I buy a lifetime pass today? Hell no. But I got in early, so why not?
Next step will be to turn every lifetime pass into a 20 year pass or smth.
Then I still have 10 years in mine, maybe Jellyfin can manage to catch up to Plex in that time
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I did pay 120 or something 8 years ago, I didn’t mind the price at the time but this is not worth it for ppl who don’t don’t have it.
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