Plex Review 2023: Is It Worth It?

Plex is a live and on-demand streaming service that doubles up as a media server and personal storage service, making it a little different from its competitors in the live streaming marketplace. The Plex TV entertainment service includes live TV, on-demand content, free web shows, podcasts, and music streaming.

Plex's live TV streaming service enables users to tune in to more than 80 live channels, while its free on-demand content library, Mediaverse by Plex, contains over 14,000 movies and TV shows. It also provides a media server on which users can store their personal music, photos, and videos. The service's partnership with streaming service Tidal allows customers to stream more than 60 million tracks in high audio quality.

There are several options for how to use Plex, with three paid-for plans and plenty of free services. This Plex review will explore the various plans available and how to use Plex.

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Plex plans and pricing

Plex's live TV service, on-demand movie and TV library, news content, and web shows are all available to watch for free. Users just need to sign up for the service with their email address or through their Apple, Facebook, or Google account. The free Plex Media Server enables users to manage their personal media files, such as movies, music, photos, and TV show episodes. They can sync the server with the Plex media player to stream their own content and watch live TV broadcasts.

Upgrading to Plex Pass ($5/mo.) enables users to download content to watch offline on their mobile devices. The Plex Pass cost allows users to connect their media server to their home entertainment system and access Plex's premium sound quality.

The Plex Premium plan ($10/mo.) provides access to the entire library of music streaming service Tidal Music. This includes 60 million songs and more than 250,000 music videos, plus thousands of podcasts. It also adds advanced music features and access to playlists and music recommendations.

The high-end Plex service, Tidal Hi-Fi + Plex Pass ($20/mo.), unlocks high-fidelity audio quality, which is only available through Tidal. It also provides access to the exclusive Plexamp music player, which adds engaging visuals to users' music.

Plex is affordable with a myriad of features compared to other leading on-demand streaming services like  Disney+ ($8/mo.), ESPN+ ($6/mo.) Hulu ($6/mo.), and STARZ ($9/mo.). While live TV services include fuboTV ($65/mo.), Hulu + Live TV ($65/mo.), Sling TV ($35/mo.), and Philo ($20/mo.).

Plex interface

Plex bundles a free collection of movies and television shows to stream. From the Home screen, Plex lists horizontally scrolling categories such as Most Popular, Top Movies, Plex Picks of the Week, TV Shows, Only on Plex for a Limited Time, and then it breaks it down by genres such as drama, comedy, romance, and music to name a few.There are Featured Channels that are on Live TV that also tell how much time is left on the show currently airing. Live TV on Plex offers a television guide of what is currently airing broken down by channel and time periods. From the Retro Crush channel to Cheddar Presents, Newsy, Deal or No Deal, HobbyKidsTV, and Hollywire; there's something for every TV enthusiast. On the main screen, Plex organizes content in a featured category list under News, but users can check out all of the categories via the left-hand menu. Some of the categories include Arts & Entertainment, Business, Gaming, Lifestyle, Politics & Government, Science & Technology, Society, and World News. Browse specific channels from the top menu like Associated Press, The Guardian, and Reuters. In the Your Media section, Plex users can personalize, organize, stream and share a collection of favorites on all devices. However, a specific Plex software is needed to use this feature.

Also, on the service is a collection of preprogrammed live TV channels that are similar to those you get with other streaming services like Pluto TV which hosts several Viacom-based channels in addition to CBS News, and Xuma. channels. All of the live content is accessible to Plex users. Parental controls can also be used for live channels and the on-demand library.

Customizing Plex Channels

Currently, there isn't a way to add on channels but it is possible to customize the channel guide to fit every user's specific interests. Plex allows for viewers to reorder the channels and hide those that aren't of interest. The channel lineup includes the following: Reuters, Yahoo Finance, Toon Goggles, Kidoodle TV, KidsFlix, Fubo Sports Network, Cooking Panda, Drink TV, IGN TV, AFV Family, Tastemade, Revry, FailArmy, Dove Channel, Docurama, The Pet Collective, WeatherSpy, Made in Hollywood, Retro Crush, Hollywire and many others. There are some that are theme-based like Surf TV, the Law & Crime Trial Network, Game Show Central, Gravitas Movies and more. There are also some channels dedicated to individual programs like The Bob Ross Channel or Deal or No Deal.  

Plex Supported Devices

The Plex service is widely available across popular devices like mobile phones, gaming consoles, streaming devices, and TVs. Always check the provider site for the latest updates on device compatibility.

• Alexa products, such as Amazon Echo

• Amazon Fire TV 

• Android phones and tablets

• Android TV

• Apple iOS phones and tablets

• Apple TV 

• Google Chromecast 

• Nvidia Shield 

• PlayStation 3 and 4 

• Roku 

• Sonos smart speakers

• Web application 

• Xbox One 

What to watch on Plex

Plex offers a free on-demand library called Mediaverse by Plex, which contains more than 14,000 movies and TV shows, so there's a lot of content to choose from. This is through the service's content partnerships with Legendary, Lionsgate, MGM, and Warner Brothers.

The quality of Plex's sizeable content library is largely aided by its partnership with fellow free streaming service Crackle. This includes popular movies like Tom Hanks starring in Captain Phillips, Harrison Ford in the classic Patriot Games, Edward Norton starring in The Illusionist, and Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx starring in action thriller White House Down. Other movie options through Crackle are Brian Cranston hunting down Pablo Escobar in The Infiltrator, Billy Bob Thornton, Margot Robbie, and Tina Fey in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, and Michael Douglas and Robert Downey Jr. in Wonder Boys.

The Crackle partnership includes popular TV shows like British series Being Human, chef Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen, Roseanne, and Snatch. It also enables Plex users to tune into Crackle's original content, with shows like basketball docuseries On Point and a documentary on Alabama rapper Yelawolf in Yelawolf: A Slumamerican Life.

Aside from the Crackle partnership, other movies available on Plex include Kirsten Dunst and Ryan Gosling in thriller All Good Things, Christopher Walkden, Laurence Fishburne, and Wesley Snipes in gangster film The King of New York,  Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen in romantic comedy Take This Waltz, and Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan in British thriller The Ghost Writer.

Plex users can also listen to thousands of podcasts through the service for free, ranging from music discussions to comedy, science, and technology shows. This includes some of the world's podcasts, such as investigative show Serial, Stuff You Should Know, a host of thought-provoking episodes on TED Talks Daily, US political series The Ben Shapiro Show, and financial advice on The Dave Ramsey Show.

Other podcasts on the service include Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Bag Man by MSNBC TV presenter Rachel Maddow, horror podcast Last Podcast On The Left, history exploration Stuff You Missed In History Class, economic show Planet Money, news show The Daily, and missing people mysteries in The Vanished.

Plex provides several free web shows, which come under popular categories like Caught On Camera, Latest In Tech, Personalities and Pop Culture, and Pets & Animals. It also has a free around the clock News service that broadcasts video from over 190 publishers around the world and in local regions.

Plex also provides a free live streaming service that has more than 80 channels and enables users to download and record shows. Popular channels on the service include CBS, CNN, ESPN, FOX, MLB Network, and SportsNet, but availability depends on the user's location. Plex's live streaming feature was previously paid-for but became free to watch in July 2020.

Plex features

Recording Plex content

Plex doesn't come with a built-in cloud digital video recorder (DVR) feature. Instead, users will need to add a Plex DVR device to their account, which can then be managed through their Plex account. The storage capabilities available to users will, therefore, be dependent on the amount of space available on the DVR device they add to their Plex account. This can be managed in the Live TV & DVR option under the Settings menu.

Simultaneous streams and profiles

The Plex service can only be watched on one simultaneous stream from any account. The service also doesn't enable users to create multiple profiles per account, which is fairly standard for free-to-watch streaming services.

Streaming quality

Plex's video streaming quality is dependent on the user's internet connection but ranges from 192 Kbps to 20 Mbps. Upgrading to Plex Pass for $4.99/mo. unlocks 1080p full high-definition imaging (HD) and 4K support.

Users are also able to manage settings like cellular data usage when watching Plex on their mobile device and home streaming levels. Its music service through Tidal also offers high-quality streaming, which offers users a choice of premium and high-fidelity.

User interface

Plex provides a simple to navigate user interface with tabs down the left-hand side, which are organized into Home, Movies & Shows, Web Shows, News, Podcasts, Music, Live TV, and Your Media. The main section of the homepage positions the last movie or show the user watched at the top, then suggested content, Plex Picks of the Week, recently added content, and more collated collections.

Parental controls

Plex enables parents to create separate user accounts that restrict the content available to their children. This applies to content in Plex's on-demand library and in the movies and TV shows stored on their Plex Media Server.

The service provides several preset profiles that enable users to restrict the content available to their children, which are:

• Younger Kid: Restricts viewers to watching content classed as TV-Y, G, TV-G, and equivalent.

• Older Kid: Includes content rated in the lower profile, plus TV-PG, PG, and equivalently rated movies and TV shows.

• Teen: Enables access to ratings from the lower profiles as well as TV-13, PG-13, and equivalent ratings.

• None: Provides access to all content ratings. However, parents are able to create custom, advanced restrictions such as content referred to as family-friendly.

Is Plex right for you?

Plex is a great all-around streaming option that bundles free live TV and on-demand content with a media server and personal storage service. The recent move to make its live TV streaming service free to watch makes Plex an even more appealing option, along with the Crackle content that improves the quality of its on-demand library.

Plex will especially appeal to people who want to stream content but also have sizeable libraries of movies, music, photos, and TV shows. The service enables them to organize, share, and store their own media content and stream it through the Plex player. 

Plex's free services are available by signing up with an email address or in one click through an Apple, Google, or Facebook account. All paid-for Plex services are available to try out with a 30-day free trial.