TV Time shut down on July 15, 2026
The Plex watchlist vs a real tracker
People associate Plex with a personal server and miss the point: its universal watchlist works with a plain free account, nothing installed. It is a more serious competitor than its reputation suggests — and the comparison plays out elsewhere.
Checked on August 15, 2026
Plex and WatchTrail, point by point
| Criterion | Plex | WatchTrail |
|---|---|---|
| What you need to start | A free account is enough: no server, no subscription | An account, also free |
| What the watchlist gathers | Your own library, Plex's free catalogue and streaming services, with each title's availability | Your library, independent of any platform |
| Episode marking | Yes, down to seasons and episodes under a show's detail page | Yes, with the watch date kept |
| The price of the rest | Plex Pass is $7 a month or $70 a year; the lifetime pass went from $250 to $749.99 on 1 July 2026 | Free, and the price does not move because there is none |
What Plex does better than us
- **The watchlist is free and needs no server** — the most widespread misunderstanding about Plex, and it works against them.
- **It says where each title is available**, mixing your own library with streaming services: nobody else does exactly that.
- **Marking reaches the episode** under a show's detail page.
- If you already run a Plex server, the integration with your files is an argument we can never match.
Where Plex falls short
- The rest of the ecosystem is paid, and the lifetime pass tripled on 1 July 2026 — that kind of move deserves to be known before settling somewhere.
- The tool is built around media playback: writing about what you watched is not its subject.
Plex is the right pick if…
If you run a Plex server and your files are at the centre of your viewing life, stay with them: nothing we do replaces that integration.
So where does WatchTrail fit?
WatchTrail reads no files and never will. What it brings alongside: extended universes, per-episode ratings and reviews, a complete TV Time import — and a price that cannot triple, since there is none.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Plex server for the watchlist?
No. A free account is enough — the most common misunderstanding about this tool.
Is Plex Pass needed to track shows?
Not for the watchlist itself. It unlocks the rest of the ecosystem.
Can Plex and WatchTrail live side by side?
Yes: Plex to play, WatchTrail to keep the record of what was watched.
The real criterion: your history
Whatever tool you pick, check that it takes your TV Time export — and how. On WatchTrail, every show is matched by its ID, not by its title.
See how to move my historyOther comparisons
- Trakt vs TV Time: the right replacement?
- Simkl vs TV Time: the best free option?
- Serializd vs TV Time: the Letterboxd of TV
- Serializd vs Letterboxd: which one for what?
- JustWatch vs WatchTrail: two tools, two questions
- Letterboxd vs WatchTrail: film on one side, everything on the other
- BetaSeries vs WatchTrail: two French apps
- SensCritique vs WatchTrail: rating, or tracking
- Is the IMDb watchlist enough to follow TV shows?
- Is the Netflix list enough to follow your shows?
- Notion or a spreadsheet to track your shows: what it really costs
- Trakt vs Simkl: which one after TV Time?
Other services' pricing and features change over time: this page shows when it was last checked. When in doubt, the service's own page is authoritative.