Plex announced on May 19, 2026, that it will increase the price of new Lifetime Plex Pass subscriptions from $249.99 to $749.99 starting at 12:01 AM UTC on July 1, 2026 [1, 2, 3]. The monthly and annual subscription prices will remain unchanged, with the annual subscription costing about $70 [1, 4, 5].

Current Lifetime Plex Pass holders will keep their existing benefits and are not affected by the price hike [1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6]. Plex originally launched the Lifetime Pass in 2012 at $75, raised it to $150 in 2014, and held prices near $120 for years before a jump to $250 in March 2025 [2, 5, 3, 6].

The Lifetime Plex Pass offers users access to Plex’s personal media server features, including local and remote streaming, downloading, and sharing content with others [2, 4, 3, 6]. Plex considered ending the Lifetime Pass option in favor of monthly and annual subscriptions, which better support ongoing development costs. However, the company chose to keep the Lifetime Pass price as a reflection of the "real, ongoing value of the software" and to fund future maintenance [1, 2, 3, 6]. Company representatives said, "We’ve considered eliminating the Lifetime Plex Pass in the past... but we know it’s still a valuable option for many in our community" [1].

Upcoming improvements tied to the price increase include episode auto-downloads, mobile playlist editing, restored support for music and photo libraries, audio enhancements, and expanded server management capabilities on mobile apps [1, 4, 6]. Buyers at the new price would need about 11 years of paying the annual subscription cost to equal the $750 fee [2, 5].

User reaction to the increase has been mostly negative, with many expressing dissatisfaction across online platforms [3]. Plex originally chose the Lifetime Pass as a way to offer fans a dependable one-time payment for software they use daily: "When Plex first started, we were movie and TV fans who wanted to make something great for people like us," the company said [3].

The new $749.99 price will apply to all Lifetime Plex Pass purchases made on or after July 1, 2026, at 12:01 AM UTC [1, 2, 4, 6].