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That model persists to the present, and the current pricing is $4.99/monthly, $39.99/annually, or $119.99 for a lifetime pass. The original payment model was monthly, but by the end of the year, they had introduced an annual pass and a lifetime pass. In August of 2012, Plex introduced Plex Pass as a way to generate additional development revenue while keeping the core features of Plex free. After continued development and collaboration, Feingold, along with Cayce Ullman and Scott Olechowski founded the Plex company in 2009.
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It’s been around so long and grown so much that it’s easy to forget Plex was an offshoot of XBMC (Xbox Media Center, now called Kodi) started as a hobby project by Elan Feingold in late 2007. Let’s take a look at the major and minor benefits that come with upgrading. A Plex Pass membership unlocks tons of perks, including access to Plex Labs apps and offline streaming. If you’re a fan of Plex, you might have wondered if you really need Plex Pass, the premium upgrade to the popular free home media server platform. For Plex Pass users, it uses sonic fingerprints to check the Gracenote database. You don't need Plex Pass to use Plex Media Server, but it includes significant upgrades like hardware transcoding and user accounts. If you have the free version, Plex will check last.fm.
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