this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025

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534

Plex has paywalled my server! (lemmy.giftedmc.com)

submitted 1 week ago by haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

354 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I tried testing a movie from my home server in plex through firefox and repeatedly got this message, even after reloading.

I knew that they had paywalled the apps on mobile and streaming from outside the network but now they have also blocked watching your own movies through your own hardware.

I do get the point that making software should be able to sustain people but I dont see the move of plex as a fair thing to do. Yes, they have made great software but taking your home server hostage feels like the wrong move.

Even a pop up that says "we need you to donate please" would have been fine. make it pop up before every movie, play donation ads before any movie but straight up disabling the app is kinda cruel.

Anyway, i have switched to jellyfin and it is insanely good. please give it a try. you can run it alongside plex with not issues (at least i had none) and compare the two.

In any case, good luck. Let me know if you need help.

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[–] themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 6 days ago

This is the reason I didn't go with Plex when I was setting up my server.

[–] NastyNative@mander.xyz 0 points 6 days ago

Im using it locally with no subscription or any payment and it works fine. I stream to other smart tvs on the house not my phone though. If its connected to the local lan you shouldn't have this issue.

[–] Kirk@startrek.website 158 points 1 week ago (21 children)

Jellyfin is great, but in defense of Plex, they announced that remote streaming would require one of the two parties to have a Plex pass was coming back in March so I don't know if it's fair to say they are holding anything hostage.

[–] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 66 points 1 week ago (11 children)

I started down the Jellyfin path after they made that announcement. It's super easy to install, and in many ways the UI is nicer than Plex. But I ran into challenges getting my server safely accessible for users outside my LAN. And I haven't had the time to look into that further.

Would be great if there was a clean, easy way to set up the webserver portion so it's as easy to share content entirely as Plex. But I get they are a volunteer project with a lot on their plate.

[–] easydnesto@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 week ago (16 children)

I have had great success with tailscale in this regard.

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 96 points 1 week ago (16 children)

Every non-Free Software will betray you eventually. It's only a matter of time.

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[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 49 points 1 week ago (56 children)

In this thread:

An OP that doesn’t understand how their network is working
People rushing to suggest a solution that they fawn over because it’s open source. I have yet to see anyone recommend Emby.
“Tailscale will solve all your problems!” Great - how do I make that work on an LG TV that’s 100 miles away?

[–] tabular@lemmy.world 52 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (21 children)

Open source has high immunity to devs making changes at the expense of the user for their benefit because anti-features can be removed. Recommending another proprietary alternative here would be like saying they aught to leave an abusive partner but then recommend someone with the same red flags.

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[–] curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 43 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Remote, yes, they announced you need Plex pass one side or the other for it to work.

Local, no, that shouldn't happen. Your device isn't reaching your Plex server locally.

To work around the remote issue, you can VPN to your local network.

But you're better off in the long haul with Jellyfin as you're doing now.

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[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 38 points 1 week ago (35 children)

It's pretty rare that a company starts taking away free features and doesn't end up fucking payers in the end.

The biggest bar to Jellyfin is TV clients, the second biggest is security.

TV clients can be fixed with a one-time purchase of a $20 android TV stick. If viewing your familys ARR content isn't worth $20 you probably don't need to do it anyway.

Security for remote streaming is a harder thing to handle. Most people are capable of port forwarding, But just hanging a smallish public project out there in the open is always a dicey proposition. It honestly needs real fail2ban, probably SSL, 2FA and password complexity requirements.

We could probably make a jellyfin helper container to handle some of this. Walk people through Let's Encrypt, dynDNS, port forwarding tests, add fail2ban with a firewall, maybe even slap suricata in it.

We need to convince the project to add 2FA and password complexity requirements.

I don't know guys what do you think is it crazy? does it make sense? Would anybody actually use it?

[–] chortle_tortle@mander.xyz 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

What are my realistic security concerns with a jellyfin server that I let friends and family watch while trying to minimize the troubleshooting and steps they need to take to get started?

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

realistic security concerns

If you're running a binary installation of Jellyfin on your server and exposing it to the public internet, you can face significant risks:

Remote execution vulnerabilities might allow attackers to exploit bugs to run malicious code on your server.
Buffer overflows. Poorly handled data can let attackers manipulate memory, Bypass logins, touch things in the host that aren't meant to be twiddled with
Network exposure. If compromised, the server could become a launchpad for attacks on your network.

There might not be any vulnerabilities at this moment, but they might come in a future release. And we might not even know they exist. It's a small team of volunteers, and they'll do their best. This is just what is reasonably possible when installing the server as an application on your OS and exposing it to the Internet.

You can minimize risk with a safer setup, as someone else in the comments here mentioned (and I think they even linked to their setup)

Using a Docker container version of the app significantly reduces your attack surface. This isolates the app from your host system. If they get in, they only get into the container and whatever that container is allowed to do.

Mount your media files as read-only to prevent accidental modifications or potential malicious changes. Now that container can't do any real harm do your data.

Avoid making the container privileged. A privileged container can interact with the host system in risky ways.

Use reasonable unique usernames and passwords. If the container does manage to get compromised, they will likely be able to read usernames and passwords stored in the container.

Regularly update your container – Ensures you have the latest security patches.

Short of some massive Docker vulnerability, (which is on you to keep updated) the worst case should be public enumeration of your media, exposure of your JF users/passwords, and denial of service. Which IMO isn't very serious.

For even tighter access control, don't whitelist the entire world.

Whitelist specific IP addresses. Have users visit WhatIsMyIP to get their IP, then configure port forwarding to allow only trusted addresses. This allows the clients at their houses in without any serious hinderance, but would block them from accessing your media when they're not at their house.

If they're accessing you through a phone or PC, setup headscale or tailscale or any VPN and allow them to get to you through VPN

[–] chortle_tortle@mander.xyz 2 points 6 days ago

Amazing info, thank you for the response!

[–] MintyFresh@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

I would be very interested in an answer to this as well. Also any how to guides that would be useful for a guy whose technical high-water mark was getting mint set up on my laptop.

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[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 38 points 1 week ago (40 children)

Old news, but time for Jellyfin. I made the switch a couple months ago. Some minor teething issues, but better, IMO, especially now as my family all have LDAP users and that just works.

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[–] psychadlligoat@piefed.social 37 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (5 children)

Someone else already said it and you've already swapped but I'll say it in detail:

when setting the server connection up you selected "ServerName (long string of numbers)" and not "ServerName (your IP - SECURE)"

this routes your connection through the Plex servers and makes it not a local connection anymore. this is extremely easy to do and forget you've done because it barely impacts performance

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[–] UxyIVrljPeRl@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Welp, i killed mine yesterday as it wouldnt let me stream while offline. Modem died so no Internet for me. Why do i have everything local if it dosent work while offline...

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[–] DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml 31 points 1 week ago (2 children)

What about switching to Jellyfin?

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[–] ISolox@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Why anyone still uses Plex for new setups is beyond me.

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[–] PhAzE@lemmy.ca 31 points 1 week ago (10 children)

Plex has pay walled FREE servers streaming to FREE clients only.

If you have a plex watch pass (for client) you're good and can stream from any server. If you have a plex pass (for server) any one can stream from your server. But you have to have one or the other.