Why Plex Blocked Hetzner (And What to Use Instead) in 2026
In September 2023, people running Plex Media Servers on Hetzner got an email that didn't come from Hetzner. It came from Plex. The email said their server's IP address belonged to "a service provider hosting a significant number of Plex Media Servers that violate Plex's Terms of Service," and that access from that provider would be blocked starting October 12. Plex never named Hetzner in the email. They didn't have to. The Hetzner subreddit and LowEndTalk figured it out within hours.
What happened
The timeline is short:
- September 15, 2023: TorrentFreak reported that Plex had emailed customers about an upcoming block. The email referenced "a service provider" without naming it. Slashdot, Hacker News, and LowEndTalk picked up the story the same day.
- October 12, 2023: The block took effect. Plex Media Servers running on Hetzner IP addresses could no longer authenticate with Plex's servers, which meant no remote access, no library sync, and no Plex features beyond local-network direct play.
- 2024-2026: The block remains active. No public statement from Plex about reversing it. Workaround discussions on GitHub and LowEndTalk are still being updated, which tells you the block hasn't been lifted.
The block is IP-based. Plex identifies incoming connections from Hetzner's AS (autonomous system) ranges and refuses authentication. If your Plex server's outbound traffic appears to come from a Hetzner IP, it gets blocked. If it appears to come from somewhere else (via tunnel), it doesn't.
Why Hetzner specifically
Plex's email cited "large-scale violations" but didn't explain what those were. The community explanation, corroborated by TorrentFreak and LowEndBox reporting, is piracy-related paid sharing.
Here's the dynamic: Hetzner offers some of the cheapest dedicated servers in Europe with large storage. That made it attractive for people running Plex servers loaded with pirated media and selling access to other users. These operations aren't small hobby setups. They're commercial services charging monthly subscriptions for access to someone else's Plex library, which violates Plex's Terms of Service (and copyright law, but that's a separate problem).
Hetzner's combination of cheap storage, good European bandwidth, and relatively lax content enforcement made it the default infrastructure for these operations. When Plex decided to crack down, Hetzner's IP ranges had enough violation density to justify a blanket block rather than chasing individual servers.
Legitimate Hetzner users running Plex for their own personal media collections got caught in the crossfire. Plex has not offered a way to whitelist individual servers on blocked ranges.
The workarounds (and why they're fragile)
The block targets the IP address that Plex's authentication servers see when your Plex Media Server phones home. Change the outbound IP and the block doesn't apply. Several methods work:
- VPN tunnel via gluetun (Docker). Route Plex traffic through a WireGuard or OpenVPN tunnel to a non-Hetzner exit IP. Gluetun is the standard Docker container for this. Media playback can still go direct from Hetzner to your client if configured correctly, keeping stream quality intact.
- Cloudflare Tunnel. Route Plex through Cloudflare's network using a custom server URL. Avoids the port-forwarding problems that VPN providers introduce and keeps media delivery fast.
- WireGuard to a cheap VPS. Rent a second, minimal VPS at a non-Hetzner provider (a $3/year RackNerd deal works) purely as a tunnel exit for Plex authentication traffic.
All of these work today. The problem is that they're workarounds for an IP-based block, and IP-based blocks can be tightened. If Plex starts fingerprinting tunnel traffic, blocking known VPN exit IPs, or requiring verified residential IPs, these methods break. You're building infrastructure on a provider that has explicitly told you to leave.
Some LowEndTalk users called the block "a nothingburger" because circumventing it is trivial. That's true from a technical standpoint. From a reliability standpoint, a setup that depends on a workaround surviving policy changes is not a setup you want to run a media library on for years.
The bigger cost problem: April 2025
The Hetzner block gets most of the attention, but the April 2025 subscription change is what actually reshapes the economics of running Plex on a VPS.
Since April 29, 2025, remote streaming from a Plex Media Server requires either:
- Plex Pass: $6.99/month, $39.99/year, or $119.99 lifetime (monthly price increased from $4.99 as of April 2025).
- Remote Watch Pass: $1.99/month introductory ($2.99/month after June 2026) per viewer who doesn't have their own Plex Pass.
A VPS-hosted Plex server is always remote. Your client device is never on the same local network as a data center. There is no way around this. Free remote playback from a VPS is no longer an option.
This means your real monthly cost for a Plex VPS is not just the server bill. It's VPS ($5-15) plus Plex Pass ($7) plus storage costs if your library is large. That's $12-22/month minimum, closer to what a streaming subscription costs. For a single-user setup with a modest library, the math still works. For shared-access setups (family, friends), each viewer without a Plex Pass needs their own Remote Watch Pass, and the cost scales fast.
What to use instead
If you're setting up a new Plex VPS or migrating off Hetzner, these are the providers that work without workarounds. The deciding factors for Plex are storage cost, bandwidth policy, and CPU for transcoding.
BuyVM (Frantech)
BuyVM is the most commonly recommended Plex VPS for a reason: unmetered bandwidth on a 1Gbps port, and block storage slabs at $1.25 per 256GB (or $5 per 1TB). Attach as many slabs as you need. The VPS itself can be small ($3.50/month for 1GB RAM) since Plex's memory footprint is modest. The catch is stock scarcity. BuyVM frequently runs out of inventory at popular locations (Luxembourg and Las Vegas), and you may need to watch for restocks. Three locations: Las Vegas, New York, Luxembourg.
Contabo
Contabo offers the most included storage per dollar of any mainstream provider. Their VPS S plan starts with 400GB NVMe. If your library fits on local disk, Contabo avoids the complexity of attached block storage. The downsides: CPU can steal under load (shared vCPU), so hardware transcoding or direct-play-only setups are safer bets than relying on CPU transcoding for multiple simultaneous streams.
Netcup
Netcup's Root Server (RS) line has dedicated cores, which helps if you need CPU transcoding. European locations with solid peering. Storage is more limited than Contabo, but the dedicated CPU means your transcoding performance doesn't degrade when the host node is busy. Twelve-month minimum term.
OVHcloud
OVHcloud offers strong bandwidth in Europe and dedicated servers with large storage at competitive prices. Their VPS line is more limited, but their dedicated server range is where Plex users with large libraries (tens of TB) tend to land. Port 25 is unrelated to Plex, but OVHcloud's permissive stance on server use cases means Plex isn't a problem.
| Provider | Storage | Bandwidth | CPU | Entry price | Plex fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BuyVM | $1.25/256GB slabs | Unmetered 1Gbps | Shared (no-oversell) | ~$3.50/mo + slabs | Best overall for Plex |
| Contabo | 400GB-1.6TB included | 32TB/mo | Shared (can steal) | ~$7/mo | Best for storage-on-disk |
| Netcup RS | Limited | 80TB+ included | Dedicated cores | ~$10/mo (12mo term) | Best for transcoding |
| OVHcloud | Large (dedicated servers) | Unmetered at reduced speed | Dedicated (bare metal) | ~$20/mo+ | Large libraries (10TB+) |
FAQ
Did Plex block Hetzner?
Yes. Plex blocked all Hetzner IP addresses from authenticating Plex Media Servers starting October 12, 2023. The block remains active in 2026. Plex cited large-scale Terms of Service violations from the hosting provider, widely understood to be piracy-related paid-sharing operations.
Can I still run Plex on Hetzner with a workaround?
Technically yes. VPN tunnels (WireGuard/gluetun), Cloudflare tunnels, and reverse proxies can mask the Hetzner IP from Plex's detection. Media still streams directly from Hetzner. But workarounds are fragile, and if Plex tightens detection, they break without warning. It's simpler to use a provider that isn't blocked.
Which VPS providers work for Plex in 2026?
Most providers other than Hetzner work. BuyVM is the common pick (unmetered bandwidth, cheap block storage slabs). Contabo offers the most included storage. Netcup RS handles transcoding with dedicated cores. The key factors are storage cost, bandwidth limits, and CPU, not just whether Plex is allowed.
Is running Plex on a VPS still free?
No. Since April 29, 2025, remote streaming requires a Plex Pass ($6.99/month) or Remote Watch Pass ($1.99/month introductory). A VPS is always remote, so this cost is unavoidable on top of your server bill. Budget $12-22/month total for a Plex VPS setup.