The costs aren’t just about maintaining the necessary resources for remote access.
There’s a cost in developing the software so that you can host and view your own media, on hardware you own which Plex needs to be reimbursed for. The software just doesn’t magically appear and get updated on its own.
If you don’t want to pay for software development, then change to an open source project.
Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out!
Ok either I’m a complete moron or I’m not reading this correctly, so I will ask for a straight forward answer to this scenario…
I have family who have access to my Plex, they are in my “Plex Home” as Managed Users and how I read the new “policy” they are not effected by, nor will they be required to purchase a “Remote Watch Pass” to view my personal media remotely.
But the friends I have invited (or given “Library Access” as the Plex Server words it) to view my media by signing up for a free Plex account and use a browser or TV App (eg: Roku, Firestick etc.) to watch are going to have to sign up for a “Remote Watch Pass” to access it after 4/29/25?
Am I correct in how I’m interpreting this, so far?
Defend that paywall to your own content while giving your money to private equity.
Maybe you should Google who Kleiner Perkins is. Or continue to be ignorant, no sweat.
i am a plex pass member, i wish Plex spent more resources to add/fix features that customers want instead of spending resources on pushing their own content.
I want to create a playlist using Artist name in music, i have been waiting for this for like 5 years.
they haven’t added new features in like 5 years, in last 5 years all they did was spend resources to push people to rent/buy their content.
if we use your logic then MS Office should be free software because MS already developed the software, development costs are paid for, they should give away office software for free.
is it fair to expect free software ?
they do need to spend time/money/resources to design/test/develop software, they want to make money too.
Not sure what passes you have. Do you have a Plex Pass yourself?
Basically, going forward, to watch any content remotely in the upcoming apps, you must either have:
A: Plex Pass on your own account.
B: Plex Pass on server owner’s account.
C: Media pass on your account.
D: Media pass on the server owner’s account. EDIT: Incorrect! I mis-interpreted a line in the FAQ!
You, being the server owner, would fall under category A and B if you have a Plex Pass. Your managed users are really sub-accounts under the server account, so are also covered under A and B.
Any friends/family that you gave access to (invited) fall under B when viewing your content-only, if you have a Plex Pass.
“Streaming” within your own network would be free for all, no matter which of the new Plex apps people use. Streaming outside of your network is when the Plex Pass OR the Remote Watch Pass come into play.
Since you have Plex Pass, ANY of the users you grant access to will be able to watch your server content for free, whether they’re in your Plex Home or a friend.
If they want to watch a different user’s server, and that server owner does NOT have a Plex Pass, then the user would need a Remote Watch Pass OR Plex Pass to watch that other server’s content remotely.
I don’t think D is correct. The server owner having a Remote Watch Pass only affects the server owner’s ability to watch other servers remotely. It would not allow other users to stream from their server remotely.
Edit: Shoot. I coulda sworn earlier that it stated that the server owner could have a media pass, not just a Plex Pass.
ORIGINAL POST BELOW:
I feel that point D works. From the FAQ:
Right there next to my name 
Yes a Plex Pass for 7 years. Running my own server.
Yes I believe that is how it is meant to be interpreted as. So far so good! 
Here’s where I believe the wording may be misconstrued by people, I have 7 friends I share (“invited”) to my server, 3 have their own servers with Plex Passes attached to their accounts. These 3 should be fine to continue to access my content remotely (A in your example)
The other 4 only have the “Free Plex Account” meaning without my invite to access my libraries, the only thing they can watch on any Plex client is the “Pluto” style of programing with commercials.
If my understanding is correct (or I am a moron) these 4 people will need to either purchase a “Remote Watch Pass” or a “Plex Pass”. This is where I think I am reading this completely different than the responses I’ve read.
Please. Apple was a venture backed corp. Most tech companies are. MY company was. But eventually those venture capitalists want a return on their investment so they can go invest in something else. They aren’t angel investors. They want a profit and without it they will take their money and leave. No company wants to stay beholden to their venture partners forever. They want to go private or public but not under the thumb of the venture guys. To do that you you need a revenue stream that doesn’t have the word “Capital” in their name. Don’t like it, use another product.
If you have a plex pass and you own the server your friends are linking to, they don’t need to buy anything. They are covered by your plex pass. They only need to pay for remote access if you DON’T have a plex pass.
Either the host or the user pays. Not both.
This is where I am getting stuck, I was always under the belief that if you wanted to watch your media outside of your (physical) network, you had to have a Plex Pass to do so.
So those who are not paying for a Plex pass can’t access their own media unless at home on the physical network.
People who sign up for a Free Plex Account aren’t paying for anything and the way I read it, it’s a way for Plex (as a company) to receive revenue from them. because they are using it to access MY media and not the advertised laden content Plex offers.
As above, I believe your friends will be covered by that. But only when watching content from YOUR server. If those 4 of your 7 friends that have no pass are invited to anyone else’s server, they will not be able to watch media remotely from those other servers unless THOSE servers have a Pass.
It sounds to me as if Plex will have the clients do a check when they start watching media. IF the server = remote, THEN check if server owenr owns Plex Pass OR user has Plex Pass OR user has Media Pass.
No, that was just a common misconception. It wasn’t true and was mostly caused by people trying to use mobile apps who seemed to not see that there was a “pay a $5 one-time unlock fee” option for them. They thought a Plex Pass was needed to use them.
Now after this change there will be a fee for remote streaming if you are not a Plex Pass holder, connecting to a server registered under a Plex Pass holder, or subscribing to the cheaper Remote Streaming plan.
As stated specifically in the FAQ, if you are a current Plex Pass holder everything will continue to work as before. But if you are on a recurring subscription (not Lifetime) plan your rate will change.
But servers without a Plex Pass can’t be remotely viewed for anyone even the server account or is that just a figment of my imagination?
You would need at least the Remote Streaming ($2/mo) subscription to use remote access supported by Plex, Inc. if the server is not under a Plex Pass, no one is paying for the access to the Plex infrastructure that enables remote access. The Remote Access subscription is you paying that fee for your individual account regardless of the server’s ownership and status.
Hoo boy, this won’t go well
