Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android AuthorityPlex’s big Lifetime Pass price hike has now kicked in, meaning the one-time payment for premium Plex features has jumped from $249.99 to $749.99. Existing lifetime subscribers get to stay smugly grandfathered in at their old rate, while monthly and annual Plex Pass pricing remains unchanged. Given the eye-watering uplift in the price of the Lifetime Pass, we wanted to know whether readers saw it as a smart long-term buy or a shameless cash grab.That rise was always going to be a hard sell, although Plex hasn’t exactly been sitting still since announcing it. The service has been rolling out new social and discovery features, which at least outwardly imply it’s trying to add more value rather than just price gouge. Since it was announced, we’ve looked at why $750 takes nearly 11 years to beat annual billing, why paying that much upfront for software access asks a lot of users’ faith, and how alternatives like Jellyfin and Emby make Plex’s new asking price feel even harder to swallow.