Plex has announced a massive price increase on the service’s Lifetime Plex Pass. On July 1, the lifetime subscription option will go from $249.99 to $749.99, an increase of 200%. The price hike will only apply to new subscribers, with no changes to monthly or annual subscription pricing.
I don’t know why anyone would pay that instead of using Jellyfin. I’ve had my server up for years now and it works great.
Last I looked, jellyfin auth and public facing security were less than ideal.
How far has that come in the last few years? I have plenty of people using my Plex and it’s been secure. I had heard a public facing Jellyfin wasn’t super secure.
Honestly, 95% of the reason I use Plex is so I don’t have to manage user passwords and troubleshoot issues for my friends and family. I just grant access.
I moved from the default jellyfin login method to using Authentik as the identity provider. Now its part of my homelab setup where all services have SSO, and I don’t have to create/manage an account for each person for each service.
Does that break Jellyfin apps on smart TVs or media devices?
A lot of people seem to have concerns with how Jellyfin handles access control and some have stated that the developers marked some major issues as “won’t fix”. Is there somewhere I can catch up on that?
I only need my server to work locally so I haven’t messed with that part personally. But I’ve read that setting up tailscale is straightforward and works fine. There are many other solutions to the problem. I would definitely invest a lot of effort before paying for Plex.
Great; how do I setup Tailscale on my mother’s Roku TV?
Unfortunately, that’s probably not gonna happen without some new hardware.
You could setup a wire guard at the router (can you setup tail scale on a router? idk). If she’s renting the ISP router, replacing that could save a 100+ a year, depending on how much the isp is scamming her for it.
or you could repurpose a minipc/nuc from bay and set up a jellyfin streaming box with tailscale.
If you have the extra hardware, you could also setup a local server with her jellyfin and use wiregaurd/tailscale to remotely connect to it and run backup/sync during off-hours.
It’s essentially a one time fee for an indefinite service of handling the vpn side of the setup.
I use Jellyfin on my local network and plex externally because I don’t know how to route specific traffic with openvpn on my phone and can’t be bothered switching it off and on when streaming things 😅
I’m not sure how it’s sustainable, and am surprised they still offer the life pass at all though.
I guess a lot of people buy it who don’t need it?
I still probably wouldn’t pay the current price for it though, I got it about a decade ago lol.
Oh also plexamp has a better UX than jellyfin for music, but I don’t think that alone would justify the current price.
Tailscale is the answer to easily and remotely access jellyfin and your server. Its easy to setup and very secure.
I didn’t find it that easy to set up 😅
but I’m sure I would find it easier if I was more motivated e.g. saving $750 by setting it up 😅
You’re not wrong. I would just rather learn Headscale or nginx or any other option than pay that Plex subscription. But I’m sure there are people out there who have extremely valuable time and wouldn’t hesitate to fork over 750.
ah yeah, I paid $50, not $750 😂
I don’t believe plex pass acts as a vpn.
yeah but it removes the need for one in most use cases
It kinda does when streaming remotely, if you don’t have any open ports it gets routed through Plex’s servers
It’s not literally a VPN no but it does route data
I haven’t checked in on Jellyfin for a while now, but don’t they still have issues with hardware transcoding support?
Not to mention the lack of software clients on other platforms for just playback that Plex has been established on for years and even multiple device generations like with PlayStation, Roku, Fire Stick, etc.?
Also you have to configure your own reverse proxy / Tailscale set up to securely access a content library remotely, right - as opposed Plex’s relatively simpler remote access configuration?
Surprise, surprise, a paid product with salaried developers has more features than a volunteer project!
More people using Jellyfin, more people who will contribute, through code or donations. It’s worth a downside to swap over.
Hopefully that gets better - I run both side by side pointed at the same folders so the exact same media is available in both. I offer all my friends the choice and list every alternate app I know of, inevitably they all prefer Plex.
Especially given the new “lifetime” price. More people will switch to Jellyfin. Plex lifetime might be shorter.
Doubt.
What about Emby? Why is that never mentioned?
I have not personally experienced any issues with hardware transcoding. My server is an old Dell Optiplex and I use clients on Linux, Android, Roku and Shield.
Yes you are correct about remote access and if that was a priority for me, I would happily learn that part instead of paying for Plex.
Especially on non-GPU systems, Jellyfin is slower at transcoding than Plex. I don’t know the internals, but I have both running in the sam machine, and Plex is always noticeably more responsive. Not by a huge margin, but still it is.
What about Emby?
I haven’t looked at Emby in a long time. Last I checked, it wasn’t as capable or feature rich as Jellyfin or Plex