2026 New Features - User Stream Limits!

[skywalker7]

In continuing with the exciting developments being added to the New Plex Experience, a new feature in line with the Plex Watch Pass has been added to address server congestion on home networks and to get rid of freeloaders that users probably forgot to remove.

Now that there are watch passes, the server owners have picked up their discounted $250 Plex Lifetime passes, but that clearly wasn’t meant to let you share your server with just anybody, and hosting media for friend groups or communities isn’t approved anymore to better align with our future app experience.

That’s why we’ll be introducing new User Stream Limits, limiting the maximum amount of streams that Plex media server can manage to a very reasonable household level that we decided was 4.

What do you guys think about this feature update from 2026? Seems exciting right? Finally a way to put an end to these servers that were easy for many people to watch media from, and get back to what Plex has always been: a tightly curated garden for you and exactly 3 other people to watch Live TV and Discover streaming media in.

[tom80H]

I guess that’s an attempt of sarcasm? …or a badly hallucinating chatbot.

There are actually some related suggestions. So at least some users seem to be dealing with that idea.

Limit Concurrent Streams Per Account

This is something I would very much like to see...   Like many of you I am sure, I have shared my massive media library with my family.  The problem is, I only have 5 mbps up bandwidth, so a realistic limit is 3 streams at once.  If all three are HD 2.0 mbps streams going on at the same time, it can start lagging.   So I have shared it with a grand total of 3 accounts.  Well, the problem is one of these family members I have allowed access to has clearly gone out and shared their username an…

Daily Limits / Max Plays per User

A feature to enable limits on the number of plays per user or max time per day per user. I think this would be a great feature. Also, cut down if someone keeps a movie paused for hours. Maybe create a temporary revoke without having to reinvite the user. If anyone has any thoughts or know of a current capability that is able to accomplish this, that would be great.   Thanks!

[skywalker7]

Don’t worry, it’s coming soon. As a required feature to sustain development, it will be on by default for all users who don’t have the Unlimited Pass. By supporting development with the Unlimited Pass, you can stream from your media server to as many people as your media server can support… again!

[Teppie]

I thought it was funny.