Online media storage solution Plex is closing down its ‘Plex Cloud‘ service on November 30th, 2018.
Plex Cloud allowed users to upload their content libraries to a dedicated cloud server hosted by Plex.
The service initially launched alongside a partnership with Amazon’s cloud service, but support for Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox were added later. In practice, this meant that users could load all of their content onto the web and forgo the need for a home server setup.
This was a useful feature for users who didn’t have the hardware for a server, or the knowledge to set one up.
The company stopped letting new users sign up for the cloud services in February 2018. At the time, Plex cited performance challenges and cloud service integrations as reasons for the holdup. The company also stated that it has plans to to re-evaluate its long-term goals for its Plex Cloud service.
It seems those long-term goals weren’t met, as Plex used a September 10th, 2018 blog post to explain that the Plex Cloud has not it met the company’s high standards. Plex added that the company was unable to maintain the cost of cloud server upkeep at a reasonable level.
According to Plex, the company plans on renewing its efforts to improve and add features to its core platform.
“We encourage you to set up a Plex Media Server on a computer or [network-attached storage] device on your local network and Plex On!” reads an excerpt from the same September 10th media release.
This means users can still access their content as they would normally if their Plex server was running on a hardware-based server, instead of a cloud-based server.
To learn more about the Plex Cloud, you can read about it here.
Any users who feel they deserve a Plex Pass refund because of the cloud service’s closure can contact Plex Billing here.
