The Netgem Pleio – the standalone Freely streaming box – just got a permanent price reduction. We don’t usually get to write news like that, so let’s savour it for a moment.
Netgem has confirmed that £99 is now Pleio’s permanent price – down from the £109.89 it’s been sitting at, and with no expiry date this time.
That’s especially notable given that the rival Manhattan Aero Freely box just went in the opposite direction, confirming a price hike from £69.99 to £89.99.
So the gap between the two Freely boxes has narrowed to just £10.
But the price isn’t the only Pleio news. April also brings a new batch of cloud games, two new FAST channels, a new content discovery feature, and some fresh data from Netgem on how people are actually using the device. There’s a lot to cover.
Quick Recap: What Is The Pleio?
Freely is Everyone TV’s streaming platform – the organisation behind Freeview and Freesat – designed to eventually replace both. Instead of relying on an aerial or satellite dish, it delivers live TV through your broadband connection.
You get BBC, ITV, Channel 4, 5, and 60+ other channels in a unified programme guide, with seven days of catch-up built in. No aerial required, no signal issues.
Until November 2025, Freely was only available on brand new smart TVs from select manufacturers. The Netgem Pleio changed that – it’s a tiny streaming puck (64mm across, 40g) that brings Freely to any TV with an HDMI port, without needing a new television or an aerial.
On top of Freely, the Pleio runs Android TV 14 with full Google Play Store access, giving you Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, NOW, and hundreds of other apps alongside your live channels.
It also includes a wireless gamepad and access to 300+ cloud games as part of the Pleio Extra subscription – included free for 12 months with purchase, and £9.99/month after that.
Freely itself remains completely free. The core channels, EPG, and catch-up services work indefinitely without any subscription beyond the TV Licence.
I reviewed the Pleio back in November and gave it 4 out of 5 stars. It delivers on its core promise, but it has some rough edges – a somewhat fragmented interface with multiple search systems that don’t talk to each other properly, a 3-4 second lag when switching channels, and ITV, Channel 4, and 5 streaming at 25fps rather than 50fps (though that last one is a Freely-wide issue, not specific to the Pleio).
The £99 Price – Now Permanent
If you’ve been trying to pick the right moment to buy a Pleio, you’re forgiven for feeling a little dizzy.
The device launched in November at £99, sold out almost immediately, and then crept up to £119.88 in January – a 21% increase that didn’t go down well.
It bounced back to £99 for a Valentine’s Day promotion, settled back up at £109.89, and has been oscillating around that range ever since – occasionally dipping to £99 for limited-time sales before climbing again.
Today, Netgem is drawing a line under all of that. The Pleio is now permanently priced at £99 (obviously, it won’t stay like this FOREVER – but at least for the foreseeable future).
That’s especially notable given what’s been happening elsewhere in the market.
The same component cost pressures – rising RAM prices driven by the global AI buildout – that pushed the Manhattan Aero up from £69.99 to £89.99 last week apply to Netgem too.
But rather than passing those costs on, Netgem says they have chosen to absorb them.
Sylvain Thevenot, Managing Director of Netgem, explained the thinking:
“The rising cost of RAM is a significant factor for everyone in the industry, but we have made the strategic decision to absorb these costs rather than passing them on to the consumer.
“While the raw costs would justify a higher RRP, we have settled on a permanent price of £99 to prioritise the growth of our user base. We want to give as many customers as possible access to our rich array of content, including 150+ Extra channels and 300+ Games, so they can experiment with and enjoy the power of Cloud Gaming using the provided gamepad.
“Our focus is on long-term market presence; we want to ensure the product remains at a price point that is accessible and realistic for our customers. We are here for the long haul, which starts with maintaining a stable, competitive entry point for our technology.”
Now On eBay – And Coming Back To Amazon
Also from today, the Pleio is available to buy directly on eBay – sold officially by Netgem, not a third-party reseller.
The device is currently out of stock on Amazon, but Netgem tell me it should be back there within the coming days (check Amazon stock).
Pleio vs Aero: Now Only £10 Apart
When the Manhattan Aero launched in February at £69.99, it changed the Freely box conversation almost overnight.
An affordable, no-subscription Freely device that sold out at Currys within 24 hours – it was a clear signal that demand for standalone Freely boxes was anything but niche.
It’s currently out of stock, but when it returns in early May it will cost £89.99.
That price rise changes the maths considerably. At £69.99 vs £99, the Aero was an easy recommendation for anyone who didn’t need gaming or a wider app library.
At £89.99 vs £99, the gap narrows to just £10 – and suddenly the choice between the two becomes a much more nuanced conversation.
So what do you actually get for that extra tenner?
The Pleio’s biggest advantage for most users is app availability. Running Android TV 14 with the full Google Play Store, you can install pretty much anything – NOW, HBO Max/TNT Sports, Apple TV, Paramount+ – all are still unavailable directly on the Aero (though you can get them via Amazon’s Prime Video Channels).
Then there’s the gaming – a bundled gamepad and 300+ cloud games add genuine value for households with children or anyone who fancies a casual gaming session without a separate console.
The Aero, on the other hand, runs TiVo OS – and while it has the same fundamental dual-system nature as the Pleio (the TiVo side and the Freely side don’t fully talk to each other either), the TiVo interface itself is a little cleaner and easier to navigate than the Pleio’s Android TV implementation, which can feel a bit messier in practice.
The Aero also has an Ethernet port, which the WiFi-only Pleio lacks. And unlike the Pleio, there are no ongoing subscription costs for any of the Aero’s core functionality (including a long list of free ad-supported channels).
At £10 apart, it’s less a question of price and more a question of whether you’d rather have Google Play’s vast, flexible app library and gaming – or TiVo’s more curated, easier-to-navigate approach.
For most viewers using mainstream services – Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, and the PSB catch-up apps – both devices cover the essentials. The differences only really bite if you’re invested in specific services that one platform supports and the other doesn’t.
There’s also the Humax Aura EZ at £249 if recording is a priority – but that’s a very different device at a very different price point, and one that still has some technical issues I flagged in my review.
New Games, New Channels, and Gaming Data
April brings a fresh batch of content to the Pleio Extra subscription, and alongside it, some interesting data from Netgem on how people are actually using the gaming features.
Seven new games are joining the cloud gaming library this month:
- Bang-On Balls: Chronicles
- DC Justice League: Cosmic Chaos
- Gigantosaurus The Game
- Ice Age Scrat’s Nutty Adventure
- OlliOlli World
- Operation: Polygon Storm
- SILT
Two new FAST channels are also arriving:
- Cosmic Frontliners
- Magellan Wildest
As for the gaming data – the numbers are interesting for a device most people buy primarily for live TV.
According to Netgem’s research, 55% of Pleio users have tried cloud gaming at least once, and active gamers are averaging 2 hours 41 minutes of gameplay per week, in sessions of around 15 minutes.
That short session length tells you exactly what kind of gaming this is: casual, pick-up-and-put-down rather than dedicated console-style play.
Pleio users play three times more than users of comparable cloud gaming devices that don’t include a bundled gamepad – which makes a strong case for Netgem’s decision to include one in the box from day one.
If you have to buy a controller separately, most people simply won’t bother.
Gaming spikes noticeably during school holidays, with peak daily usage at 4:30pm (the after-school crowd) and 10pm (the adults, once the kids are in bed).
The most-played titles skew heavily towards family and casual gaming – racing games, party games, Overcooked 2, Hot Wheels Unleashed.
But Mafia: Definitive Edition, which arrived in February, immediately became the most-played title by both sessions and playtime – suggesting that Pleio users will engage with more substantial games when they’re available.
A New “Picture in Picture” Feature – With a Caveat
One more addition this month: Netgem has added what they’re calling “Picture in Picture” to the FAST channels section.
In practice it works more like a live preview – when you scroll through channel thumbnails and pause on one, the live feed from that channel begins playing in the background, filling the screen behind the UI, sound and all.
I can see the appeal for content discovery – plenty of streaming services do something similar, and it does give you an immediate sense of what’s actually on without having to open the channel fully.
But personally, I could do without it. Nothing quite prepares you for browsing peacefully through a menu while a wildlife documentary suddenly starts blaring behind it at full volume. It’s less “helpful preview” and more “ambush by nature documentary.”
That said, taste varies – if you like to graze through channels before settling on something, this could genuinely be useful. Here’s hoping Netgem adds an option to turn it off in settings for those of us who prefer our menus a little quieter.
Is Now a Good Time to Buy?
With a permanent £99 price, new content, and availability now expanding to eBay, the Pleio is in a cleaner position than it’s been at any point since launch.
The pricing uncertainty that’s hung over it for months is gone, and at £10 more than the Aero when that returns in May, it’s a genuinely competitive option.
Whether it’s the right Freely box for you still depends on what you actually need – Google Play’s depth and flexibility, or TiVo’s simplicity and no ongoing fees.
But if you’ve been waiting for the dust to settle before committing, today is probably as good a moment as any.
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Thanks for this streaming update.
Satellite will always be king, though. Long live Freesat + Sky Q!
Always is a long time!