No, plex has many price points, including a free one.
No, before the remote pass they had to pay a one-time fee, but since they added the remote pass subscription as long as the plex server admin has a plex pass no-one has to pay a cent.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/requirements-for-remote-playback-of-personal-media/
Since 2025-04-29, there are new requirements for allowing remote playback of video personal media from a Plex Media Server (that is, streaming when not on the same local network as the server). These requirements apply to apps that have been updated to our new experience, such as our mobile app, and will also apply to other platforms as we progress.
When using an affected app/platform to stream personal video content remotely from a Plex Media Server, then one of the following needs to be true:
The admin account for the Plex Media Server has an active Plex Pass (which also allows remote playback for any other user streaming from that server)
Your account has an active Plex Pass
Your account has an active Remote Watch Pass
but just those should be safe enough if your users aren’t reusing passwords.
So you've put your server/networks security in the hands of 17 other people's password policies, and you think that's "actually safe to do so if proper precautions are taken"?
I've got 20+ friends and family who use my Plex server, only a few have ever paid a cent (when they had the one time fee for mobile streaming), and my server and networks security is not at the risk of someone using the password "password".
The biggest security issues are "out of scope" because making a secure open-to-the-web media hosting platform is hard, especially for free. The devs have just flat out said they're not doing it.
Everything that people do to get remote streaming working is either incredibly insecure, or a workaround that means most people can't stream from your library on the devices that they want to.
No they’re not. No one is connecting their tv to Tailscale, especially not your parents or grand parents, and ip whitelisting is still dangerous and insecure on networks you don’t control.
It depends on the purpose and the use. Recording audio on theft prevention cameras is allowed, as long as it’s not being used specifically for spying on private conversations. Ie employees can’t just watch it to listen to what people are saying.
Power doesn’t mean “shut down”. Never has.
The lifetime membership will never be a blocked thanks to this price update.
I’ve never had a lifetime license be taken away other than the company going out of business.
The Plex that exists today is nothing like XBMC.
Unless your user comes and logs in on your network, and only streams when they’re at your house, then you’ve just opened your server to the world.
Plex has bandwidth controls.
Doing it insecurely is easy.
The secure part isn’t debatable. Even the devs will tell you it’s not secure.
Well jellyfin is not made for remote access, which was my point.
Why are you having to prove you're the owner of it exactly? What you're describing is "user error".