Plex says the price of a new Lifetime Plex Pass will rise from $249.99 to $749.99 in U.S. dollars on July 1, 2026. The $500 increase applies to new purchases, while the one-time payment option will remain available.
The change takes effect at 12:01 a.m. UTC on July 1, equivalent to 8:01 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on June 30. Plex says customers can purchase or upgrade to the lifetime plan at the existing $249.99 price until that deadline. Prices in other currencies may vary.
Existing Lifetime Plex Pass holders will retain their benefits and perks, Plex says. The company also says the announcement does not change monthly or annual Plex Pass subscription pricing.
Plex Pass provides additional features for people using Plex to stream personal media collections, including those who run a Plex Media Server. Plex lists hardware-accelerated transcoding, downloads and remote streaming among its paid features. The server software is free, and local playback is available without Plex Pass, subject to app and platform limitations.
Comparison with annual billing
At the reported annual Plex Pass rate of $69.99, the new lifetime charge would equal approximately 10.7 annual payments. This comparison excludes discounts, taxes and currency differences, and assumes the annual price remains unchanged.
Plex says the monthly, annual and lifetime subscriptions provide the same Plex Pass features; the difference is the payment term.
Plex’s explanation and development plans
Plex says it previously considered eliminating the lifetime option because recurring subscriptions help sustain long-term development. Instead, the company says it is retaining the plan at a higher price intended to reflect the software’s ongoing value and support continued development and maintenance.
The company also points to an expanded Plex Pass feature set. Its development plans include grouping downloads by show, automatically downloading new episodes, and enabling playlist creation and editing in mobile apps.
Plex says it is working to bring existing web-based server and library management tools to mobile apps and, where appropriate, TV apps. Other planned changes include restoring music and photo library support in mobile apps and the new TV app experience, boosting dialogue volume, normalizing loudness and improving video transcoding. These remain announced development plans rather than confirmation that the features are available.
