Plex lifetime pass price triples to $750 as monthly subscriptions cost unchanged

Plex, the media platform, made a significant announcement on May 19, 2025. The streaming company stated that the price of its Lifetime Plex Pass will increase from $249.99 to $749.99 starting July 1, 2026. That’s triple the current price of the pass. The price change will take effect at 12:01 a.m. UTC on July 1, 2026.

Thankfully, existing Lifetime Plex Pass owners won’t see any changes or lose any benefits or features. Furthermore, the current monthly and yearly Plex Pass pricing will remain at $6.99 and $69.99, respectively, for now. 

A price increase based on 'ongoing value'?

Plex made this announcement on its official blog, where it explained the reason behind tripling the price of its Lifetime Plex Pass and stated:

“We’ve considered eliminating the Lifetime Plex Pass in the past, given that recurring subscriptions help us sustain long-term development, but 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.”

A not-so-well-received price bump

Given the steep price increase, many users online have reacted strongly, especially in the light of similar raises by the company. Some have said that Plex has made its Lifetime Pass so unattractive that people will now be more likely to opt for monthly subscriptions.

For those unaware, Plex is an app that turns your computer or NAS into a media server, letting you store movies, TV shows, and music and stream them directly to your phone, tablet, TV, or other devices. Most content is under local user control, unlike Netflix, which requires users to stay online and relies primarily on cloud streaming.

A Plex Pass unlocks extra features such as hardware-accelerated transcoding, mobile syncing, remote access, and more advanced library management tools.

Despite its value proposition, this is the second time Plex has increased the price of its Lifetime Pass in just over a year. Earlier, in March 2025, Plex raised the pass price from $119.99 to $249.99. The Lifetime Pass is set to increase to $749.99 on July 1, 2026. So, if you’re still on the fence, now’s the time to decide whether to make a one-time payment before the new pricing takes effect.

For now, it seems that Plex is looking to lock in long-term customers immediately or at a higher price or alternatively make the monthly subscription tier more attractive to allow for steady, recurring revenue for what is arguably the best personal streaming service money can currently buy.