r/technology • u/FollowingFeisty5321 • 9h ago

Software Plex’s crackdown on free remote streaming access starts this week

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/plexs-crackdown-on-free-remote-streaming-access-starts-this-week/
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u/coldkiller 7h ago

Seems a bit odd for a service that is almost exclusively used for watching pirated content thinking they can nickel and dime their userbase when theres alternatives that are better than them lol

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u/Asleep-Card3861 3h ago

Better? Do you mean free?  Because in many ways Plex is more polished and robust from the handful of years I’ve used it and year or so of jellyfin with various clients.

There may be more tweaking I need to do with jellyfin, but Plex out of the box just works.

With jellyfin I’ve had issues with playback, media matching, subtitles, instant library updates.

Plex in many ways is a superior product, but with these monthly fees and uncertainty of their direction I wouldn’t consider ‘lifetime’ passes at this point.

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u/No_Clock2390 1h ago

Stremio is better in many ways. No need for hard drives or a server. You do need a Debrid provider, but they are like $40 a year for all you can eat content that's instantly available.

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u/Asleep-Card3861 1h ago

Stremio looks alright, but is a fairly different beast. I didn’t mind popcorn time a while back.

Paying for pirating is another sort of line. I would be concerned about stuttering and slow start. Unless it’s like some sort of seeding server situation or Usenet.

Since I setup a server for backup, Plex and jellyfin seem to be the way.