Brace yourselves - Plex users will be coming here in droves.

[marriedman 126]

I honestly don't understand why people have stayed with Plex through the years, but this has got to be the proverbial straw that breaks the camels back:

https://www.neowin.net/news/plex-starts-paywalling-streaming-of-your-own-content-to-increase-revenue/

This of course means that the forum will be inundated with posts like, "Plex does this, can you make Emby like Plex?!"

Ugh...

[GrimReaper 5222]

Tbh, I thought they already implemented that across their ecosystem few months ago (April 29 onwards), when they increased pricing. 

Edited November 26, 2025 by GrimReaper

[Q-Droid 1054]

11 minutes ago, marriedman said:

I honestly don't understand why people have stayed with Plex through the years, but this has got to be the proverbial straw that breaks the camels back:

https://www.neowin.net/news/plex-starts-paywalling-streaming-of-your-own-content-to-increase-revenue/

This of course means that the forum will be inundated with posts like, "Plex does this, can you make Emby like Plex?!"

Ugh...

That's been going on for years. The forum is full of "why can't Emby be more like Plex?" posts.

I doubt it'll be a problem.

 

 

[yocker 2075]

43 minutes ago, Q-Droid said:

That's been going on for years. The forum is full of "why can't Emby be more like Plex?" posts.

I doubt it'll be a problem.

 

 

I don't think to many will switch to Emby.
People will take a lot of abuse before wanting to change from what they are used to, humans are habit creatures after all.
More importantly though is the fact that if you go through r/plex or any other forum the nobody mentions Emby and only Jellyfin even though they acknowledge that their equipment like Samsung most likely isn't supported.

It's funny though, if you mention Emby to the Plex users you will often get a "but it costs money" back even though they happily shelled out a buttload for Plex.

 

[marriedman 126]

2 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

Tbh, I thought they already implemented that across their ecosystem few months ago (April 29 onwards), when they increased pricing. 

I knew they had a paywall for something, but I assumed it was external media. From what I gather, if you want to watch your own media from outside your LAN, now you have to pay. On top of everything going through their server. It's like Microsoft or Google came up with this crap.

2 hours ago, Q-Droid said:

That's been going on for years. The forum is full of "why can't Emby be more like Plex?" posts.

What the devs should do is make a list of these people and start charging them extra monthly so that they feel more at home!

1 hour ago, yocker said:

It's funny though, if you mention Emby to the Plex users you will often get a "but it costs money" back even though they happily shelled out a buttload for Plex.

In my circle of family and friends, I am a notorious bargain hunter (aka tight ass). I think I started using Emby and within a week or two purchased the lifetime license. I think Emby is a bargain and even for any hiccups - maybe even a headache or two - and it is head and shoulders above anything else I tried. There is no simpler way to share a library with elderly parents than Emby in my opinion.

Now if there was just a way to remap remote crapware buttons, I would be in cinema nirvana...

[marriedman 126]

I'm kind of torn about the Plex users switching to Emby. On one hand, that's money for Emby. On the other, I can't stand the whining. 

[SikSlayer 257]

On 11/26/2025 at 9:30 AM, yocker said:

I don't think to many will switch to Emby.
People will take a lot of abuse before wanting to change from what they are used to, humans are habit creatures after all.
More importantly though is the fact that if you go through r/plex or any other forum the nobody mentions Emby and only Jellyfin even though they acknowledge that their equipment like Samsung most likely isn't supported.

It's funny though, if you mention Emby to the Plex users you will often get a "but it costs money" back even though they happily shelled out a buttload for Plex.

 

I agree. There are so many who are willing to deal with the headaches Jellyfin has, just because its free, and not to mention those who believe it's superior just because its open source.

Edited November 29, 2025 by SikSlayer

[marriedman 126]

7 hours ago, SikSlayer said:

<snip> ...not to mention those who believe it's superior just because its open source.

What is funny is that I am usually that guy. I will try to run open source software whenever possible (GPL v2 is my preferred license) but Emby & I just clicked. I had a particularly frustrating situation with Kodi and content updating.  There wasn't a Jellyfin client for LG at the time so I ended up with Emby. There was no looking back after that. 

[SikSlayer 257]

Indeed. As am I. I just an honest with myself and understand that just because its open source, doesn't automatically mean it's the best, or even really any good.

Remember that Jellyfin is a fork of Emby from when it stopped being open source. Too many were just taking from it and not giving back. Jellyfin it just doesn't have the resources and developers to maintain it and fix it's lingering issues. Thus, it's... rough.

People will excuse a lot for free, and for being open source.

[marriedman 126]

On 11/26/2025 at 11:15 AM, marriedman said:

I'm kind of torn about the Plex users switching to Emby. On one hand, that's money for Emby. On the other, I can't stand the whining. 

I'd just like to get on a soapbox and revisit this statement.

On top of the whining, they are insufferable pompous churls who feel entitled to insult and denigrate the developers and forum moderators. Regardless if they have a valid point, I seriously hope they don't get the help they want and leave. In the past few months I have seen an increase in boorish and parasitic forum member activity. I am, of course, only assuming they are coming from Plex. I could be wrong and they are just the dregs of the internet that have found our little community of hobbyist and mediaphiles. I don't have to name any names, most of us that are casual or laidback forum member vets can deduce them easily.

Buying a license doesn't give a person a right to have all of their wants and desires addressed immediately. It merely entitles you to the service. Your attitude will go much further in assisting you to obtain help.

OK, I feel better.

[yocker 2075]

It seems they just laid off the team that makes the actual player.

[ebr 17020]

On 10/27/2026 at 10:41 AM, yocker said:

It seems they just laid off the team that makes the actual player.

Source?

[speechles 2130]

27 minutes ago, ebr said:

Source?

If you read the thread on Plex linked inside you can see the replies. The main post they quote above has been scrubbed off the Plex forums obviously. They do not want that shared. But disgruntled employees sometimes need to be heard. The only way they feel heard is by making an alarming public post on their forums.

This is probably a sign they are cutting costs hoping to court a buyer and showing on their balance sheets positive cash flow. ie, "burn rate" panic is setting in.

Edited October 28 by speechles

[yocker 2075]

Now they are starting to migrate to Jellyfin and will then be surprised by the lack of clients outside Android , like for example for Samsung.
I do feel bad for the people who paid for Plex, never fun when the product you have bought starts to succumb to enshitification and ends up useless and not what you used money on to start with.

[RedNo7 40]

2 hours ago, yocker said:

Now they are starting to migrate to Jellyfin and will then be surprised by the lack of clients outside Android , like for example for Samsung.
I do feel bad for the people who paid for Plex, never fun when the product you have bought starts to succumb to enshitification and ends up useless and not what you used money on to start with.

I’m one of those people.

I tried Jellyfin but ended up with Emby and got Premier to show support.

Plex users would come over if there was an easy (i.e. built-in) method to remotely access (Plex does make this easy). I had quite the learning curve to be confident I hadn’t made my server unsafe and I still feel constantly nervous about it.

[ebr 17020]

14 minutes ago, RedNo7 said:

Plex does make this easy

By relaying everything through their servers...

[RedNo7 40]

Correct, but it’s no effort and no-knowledge-required for non-techy users.

[yocker 2075]

56 minutes ago, ebr said:

By relaying everything through their servers...

I do love the "everything is mine and private" feel of Emby but wouldn't mind if that feature would be added as opt-in.
Can't speak for others ofc.

[ebr 17020]

7 minutes ago, yocker said:

I do love the "everything is mine and private" feel of Emby but wouldn't mind if that feature would be added as opt-in.
Can't speak for others ofc.

Not only would it violate kinda what we've always stood for, it would require us to stand up a bunch more infrastructure to support it.

[RedNo7 40]

I do think if there was a simple remote-access process, perhaps part of Premier, a lot more users would come from Plex to Emby. I appreciate there is Emby Connect, but I’m referring to a built-in reverse-proxy that works with Emby Connect.

[yocker 2075]

10 minutes ago, ebr said:

Not only would it violate kinda what we've always stood for, it would require us to stand up a bunch more infrastructure to support it.

Yeah i guess so, would be a good way of getting a lot of customers though as people seem to be fleeing Plex.  

Love that you stand firm on the privacy thing!

[Pejamas 160]

On 29/10/2026 at 06:54, RedNo7 said:

I do think if there was a simple remote-access process, perhaps part of Premier, a lot more users would come from Plex to Emby. I appreciate there is Emby Connect, but I’m referring to a built-in reverse-proxy that works with Emby Connect.

if connecting remotely is the struggle for plex users migrating, they gonna have a bad time picking jellyfin, way more complicated.