All Archicad Perpetual Licenses Terminated at the end of 2026

[mthd]

After the end of 2026 we are all required to proceed with a subscription only for Archicad. We will probably be left with last perpetual upgrade version that we have acquired while our SSA/FW contracts are still active ?

There has been an official announcement that has been sugar coated as I see it and put forth for discussions. Maybe hoping to somehow soften the blow for up and coming mandatory subscriptions after 2026 whether we approve of it or not.

Here is a link if you haven’t already read it from the main community page.

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Graphisoft-Insights/Important-update-Next-phase-of-subscription-...

I personally do not approve of this move and feel like I am being coerced to accept it by a process of gradual announcements. I am not interested in changing to other CAD packages but if Graphisoft comes up with more significant improvements after 2026 we are now required to take out a subscription.

How do others feel about this up and coming change that we have no control over ?

[mthd]

I would like to make a final plea about that this company carefully reconsidering how it is treating its customers in going forward. Please forget about what Autodesk and the others are doing to their customers. Have you heard the saying “that you catch more bees with honey” ?

If you decided to continue to offer perpetual licenses to anyone who wants one and to be fully upgradable, would you stand out as the best CAD solution in the world because of the way you treated your customers ? I would definitely think so and you would become the first choice Architectural software in the world because you treat your customers fairly and with deep respect. Not just using the word dear So & So and not really meaning it. I think your future growth would be fully guaranteed by not following the lead of other CAD like Autodesk etc.

[Barry Kelly]

I am just annoyed that those of us who have purchased perpetual licenses, will now have to 'rent' the software at the same full subscription cost as a new user that never had the initial outlay (after conversion deals expire).

Look after your old customers.

Fine have a subscription and no more perpetual license upgrades (although I would like those to stay), but permanently reduce the cost of the subscription for those that have already purchased the licenses.

Barry.

[mthd]

That would be a sensible thing for them to do for a transition to a subscription only license.

I am waiting till my distributor informs me about what my options are. Considering that perpetual licensing is definitely friendly for a small business or a sole trader like me.

I am not going back to using Chief Architect because that is more suitable for timber framing, construction drawings, quantity take off and estimating. I will just use my last version that I am allowed to have with GS for now.

[Nader Belal]

I have had this type of conversations with some friends, which can be summarized in the following points:

1. Some had real issues, because even if they retire now, they will still have civil responsibility for the project's they have designed for 10 years after it's completion, so what will happen to their project files if they need to consult something for any legal reasons that may arise in the future.
2. Others have commented, that the issue is not about Archicad per se, but for the whole system of the software applications landscape. A side of the economic expenses that they have to pay just because they have the business, they too have to pay not only for Archicad subscription but also other pelothera of services and apps, which will leave them with a net income per month lower than what is set in the minimum wage.
3. By how things are turning out, many will be forced out of the work force and/or their careers cause even if they learn to use any specific application, they may not acquire the needed proficiency with that application, because the free time of usage for the learning the app was already limited.

[Charl Bradford Strin]

In that case it's all going to come down to who is the cheapest. Archicad or Revit..In South Africa it costs us an arm and a leg for subscriptions due to the Dollar exchange rate.. Also Seems my practice is  going to be using Version 28/29 or 30 for many years to come..after the start implementing subscriptions.. Cannot afford a once of annual subscription. fees especially not for multible computers..So the perpetual licenses I al ready have will have to do..

[Martin Jules]

The most critical point is that architectural and design clientele is not ready to pay for the emergence of the cloud technology, as imposed by the software companies. Should we thus impose the price on our clients? The ethical answer is no!

[jl_lt]

i wouldnt have any ethical problems charging the clients more for "software contingencies".  problem is they wouldnt have any ethical problems not paying that extra either.

[mthd]

It is official now that I received an email from my provider stipulating the Graphisoft is not servicing perpetual licenses beyond 2026. They are also trying the hard sell by offering greater savings on converting to a subscription before the end of 2024. No thank you, they terminate servicing perpetual licenses beyond 2026, I terminate my payments to Graphisoft. I will use my software version that I paid for. Sorry Graphisoft I don’t rent my CAD software from no one.

[Asplan]

Wow, i am only just reading about this.  The perpetual license was the reason i took our practice to Archicad over the rival companies.  I will not be subscribing so will keep the practice running on the last version they release. 

What should i get from Graphisoft in hard and soft copies of the downloads, software keys, hard dongles etc before they shut us down so i can buy new computers in the future?  Hopefully someone will start a spin off group for us on the old system.  

[Sharpeyespanda]

I am proud owner of Archicad and I'd like and appreciate answers and comments from you guys, especially from CEO Daniel on this here.

I’m going to bring your attention to an important and growing concern in today’s digital landscape—how ownership, privacy, and control are being subtly eroded through systems that favor rental, subscriptions, and third-party control. And first, let me say that I do not think subscriptions are inherently negative or bad, but more often than not, the makers of these systems and societal changes somehow forget to put in the guardrails that protect our freedoms. Klaus Schwab’s phrase, "You will own nothing and be happy," taps into the larger shift where individual ownership is being replaced by rental or subscription models, and the consequences of this are vast.

Let me paint a likely negative scenario of how this might affect our lives. The trend of renting or subscribing, rather than owning outright, has grown rapidly in many sectors. Whether it’s cars, homes, or even digital assets like software (e.g., Adobe, AutoCAD, Revit, Archicad), the emphasis is increasingly on paying for temporary access versus ownership. This allows those who control the assets to continuously profit, without requiring much or any real work from themselves.

The impact is that you "own" nothing, and the things you use are out of your control. If your access is revoked for any reason—late payment, policy change, etc.—you lose access to the things you thought you owned. This chips away at your security and autonomy. At any point, the company can lock you out, change the price, or alter the terms, putting you at risk of having your access to necessary tools or entertainment cut off.

This has significant implications for both personal finance and business operations. As more services move to the subscription model, the trade-off is often access to your personal data. Companies collect vast amounts of information from you—what you watch, what you work on, when you use their services, and much more. This data isn’t just used to improve the service; it’s a commodity. The more data they have, the more they can monetize it. As services, assets, and even day-to-day functions become more reliant on digital platforms and subscriptions, there’s a subtle shift toward technocratic control—where decisions that affect your life are made by tech companies and their algorithms.

Your ability to opt out is increasingly limited. Tech giants use their platforms to shape your behavior, dictate what you can access, and control what options you have. Your personal data, which you might consider private, becomes a product they can sell or use for advertising, often without your explicit knowledge or consent.

If someone gains unauthorized access to that data, or if the service provider experiences a breach, your personal life is suddenly exposed. You are increasingly dependent on the whims of technology and its designers, and the companies behind these platforms hold much more influence over your life than is healthy. In the worst-case scenario, this could extend to social credit systems or algorithm-driven choices about your life and access to resources. In a subscription-based model, the customer is constantly paying for temporary access to goods and services.

For example, you could spend thousands on software subscriptions annually, yet if you ever stop paying, you lose access to everything you’ve been paying for—your files, the tools you depend on for work, your personal entertainment, etc. Bill Gates’s Microsoft is already taking liberties by sneakily connecting to your files and shuffling or even erasing them through vague settings in OneDrive.

Most subscription models have a similar effect. Banks are already limiting access to your money without legitimate reason and even shuffling the terms of your accounts far from benign and even against your wishes. Those who own the assets are continually profiting and taking more control, while consumers, unable to own anything in a lasting way, find themselves perpetually at the mercy of, and the risk of losing access even to their bare livelihoods.

In conclusion, while the subscription and rental models may seem convenient or necessary in the short term, they are causing serious long-term implications without the guardrails implemented. We risk losing autonomy, privacy, and the basic right to own the things that are integral to our lives. The world may increasingly look like a place where we’re constantly paying for temporary access to everything, with no true ownership and very little control over our own lives.

Still think silence is a good way to go? Still think you should police whether your neighbor overspent on his PC, had a steak and a bottle of wine on company account or any such thing?...while you let "big fish" roam and destroy life as we know it?

[torben_wadlinger]

We (the Community) discussed this very topic up and down. The only way to stop this is by regulation. But there is nothing in sight, because we as users and clients as a whole are not organized. 

But it is easy to solve: if your software is subscription only you must be forced by law to publish the data format and the protocols of how the software communicates so that there is a possibility to develop an alternative software. That is freedom of information. For now, our data and our work is kept hostage.

[Lingwisyer]

Breathing and pausing would make your essay a lot more readable... carriage returns are your friend.

It continuously gets harder to change the ecosystem you work in... And each time you find a perpetual software, invest the time to relearn, so often they eventually give in to their investors and become subscription...

[Sharpeyespanda]

Lingwisyer, thank you for the writing advice. The fact is that Archicad is perpetual software that you can upgrade at your own discretion while still retaining ownership and the rights to what you’ve invested in, and continue to use it. When it becomes solely subscription-based, my "essay," as you put it, stands—on that, and the bigger picture point.

Graphisoft should, as they claim to care about the world and the client, expand their offering to a subscription-based model without annulling the current existing system.

[rakurs]

While I completely agree about the existing (and already murdered) system, I'm afraid that ship has sailed. Your "essay" is also on point.

[Sharpeyespanda]

Rakurs might be right, but given the "free market" and the abundance of rising, more approachable software, how long do you think it will take for someone to develop better software with better terms, more accessibility, and lower costs—or perhaps even a voluntary-based investment model?...regardless of effort of switching to it, which might be done less painfully than before mind you.

Graphisoft seems to be on a path that could be risky, especially when we look at past examples of companies that failed to adapt:

1️⃣Blockbuster refused to invest in streaming and got wiped out.

2️⃣Canon was slow to embrace mirrorless technology, and it cost them market share.

3️⃣Kodak failed to embrace digital photography, despite inventing the digital camera, and it led to their downfall.

4️⃣Blackberry ignored the touchscreen revolution, and their dominance in the smartphone market quickly evaporated.

5️⃣Yahoo missed the opportunity to develop a competitive search engine and neglected social media, leaving room for Google and Facebook to dominate.

Graphisoft seems to be going down a path where, instead of expanding their offering, they’re becoming more limited. Rather than integrating better developed MEP and focusing on more approachable and diversified modeling, they’re relying heavily on third-party tools. Why not make everything more integrated and streamlined within Archicad itself?

These examples I numbered here show how businesses that don’t evolve with market shifts can lose their edge. I'm not trying to undermine Graphisoft, but rather highlighting the obvious risks they face if they don’t adapt to the changing landscape. Innovation, adding to their value instead of undermining it, and flexibility will be key to maintaining their position in the market. Think of it this way: what did the mobile phone do just a few years ago and what are its capabilities now? It’s important to note, though, that when I first purchased my Archicad edition 15 , the price doubled since then—raising concerns about the sustainability of such pricing strategies in a rapidly evolving market. Not to mention this subscription "A MUST" shift.

To cover the full pipeline in Archicad 28, you need to implement better and more comprehensive structural tools for analysis and detailing; enhance MEP tools for engineering and modeling; refine energy tools for more precise environmental analysis; improve rendering to achieve fully photorealistic results, achievable-given today's technological advancements; add robust cost estimation tools for budgeting; and integrate fabrication tools for manufacturing and detailing. These features can be developed to be self-sufficient and top of the line.

In my humble opinion, this is the direction Archicad should take. The current pipeline can be simplified and optimized to a significant degree, making the process more efficient and user-friendly. By integrating these capabilities seamlessly, Archicad could streamline workflows and greatly reduce unnecessary steps, enhancing both the speed and quality of work.

What are your thoughts on that, people?...How about your thoughts Daniel, since you seem to be at the helm of this Hungarian endeavor, as things are on this month of March of 2025.?

[rakurs]

However nice the new and upcoming thing is, that pushes out the mainstream product, capitalism teaches us that eventually it becomes worse. AirBnB is more expensive than hotels in some places. Home media is so fractured that in the end you pay more than cable to get your fix. Uber and similar have pushed out regular taxi services but are becoming increasingly less viable. All companies (and especially uber-national corporations) push profit as their main goal in the end with no regard to humans with their first and last names. We're all just income streams.

I'm sorry for the pessimistic outlook. I don't hold much hope in software becoming better and more approachable to everyone (cost-wise) but that doesn't mean I'm going to silently accept it and not look for alternatives. I'm appalled by the philosophy of so many companies whose products I use, and I hope that we can all be at least loud enough that we're heard, and maybe even listened to in some degree.

For anything to REALLY change, we would need a radical paradigm shift. Seeing global politics, I'm thinking we're doing the opposite, meaning we're entrenching in the status quo and deepening the hole we're in. We as humans.

[Sharpeyespanda]

Rakurs, I'll keep my thoughts on your comment to myself as we're slightly off-topic. However, I will only say this: the "World software" is outdated, no matter which side you look at, capitalist, socialist whatever. We're ready for a whole new one. The real question is, will we, as a collective, find enough wisdom, sanity, and logic to take that road? I know I already have, and I suggest the same to all of you.

And I know I risk sounding full of myself, but I might have been on that road all along. Anyway, I have good times with Archicad...regardless of some other aspects of it all.

[Jp1138]

In my opinion integration of all in one software is not the way, Better interoperability should be the way. Total integration is what has brought us to this point, where a company can change the rules of the game and you can´t just stop buying its product, because it permeates all the work you do.

I use structural software that gives me IFC models. Use MEP software that gives me IFC models. I don´t need to do any of that inside a bloatet software that is master of none.

From their point of view, GS are now taking the road that Blockbuster didn´t take: they are dropping the old ways (perpetual licenses) and embracing the "new" one (subscription and cloud). They are, however, not really transitioning to the cloud or making a more "modern" software. They are, at least for now, just charging a lot more for the same product is has ever been. And they think they can get away with it.

No doubt other solutions will appear. They are already showing up, Bonsai, That open company, Speckle, but creating a software as Archicad, Revit or Allplan is not an easy task. These new tools, without the constraints of all the heritage monolitical software has, can evolve much faster and take advantage of modern technology in a way it´s very dificult for Archicad. But how long will it take? It all seems very far away for me at least.

I would love to leave Archicad behind, but right now I don´t see any feasible alternative. Let´s hope one comes before all this subcription debacle is upon us - right now we have until Archicad 30, but I wouldn´t hold my breath 😅

[rakurs]

ArchiCAD really should be a powerful tool for architects. The MEP, structural and other parts of it should be tools for architects, to better communicate their ideas to the collaborating engineers, not the tool for collaborating engineers. I mean that in the sense that an architect should be able to simply make guidance for other engineers, not precisely define MEP elements or structure. I think that's why we have slower implementation of new features and half-assed old features FOR ARCHITECTS. Imagine if you could add designer furniture into structural analysis software, how would that make sense?

[Jp1138]

"Imagine if you could add designer furniture into structural analysis software, how would that make sense?"

Maybe it´s a really heavy table 🤣🤣🤣

I completely agree with your point of view.

In Archicad you can document the detailed IFC files we get from the specialists - even if we ourself are the specialists in the case of small firms. But I don´t think it would make sense for an engineer to buy Archicad to model anything. I don´t know if that is what they are working to...

[Sharpeyespanda]

It adds complexity to consider all that, sure. And it probably works better for smaller projects. However, the freedom to design from the inside out, outside in  equivalently and in a crisscross manner is of great value to the outcome—if you manage to excel at it. Also, when the pipeline is properly planned and designed, construction results in sturdier and higher-quality real estate. Therein lies "the sense." ⭐ Here's an interesting take! -While the our * so called politicians and other so called leaders are signing us on a micro level to rent, lease, and subscription where as per Klaus Schwab "we will own nothing and be happy" in the same time they are signing us as countries for a lifetime subscription. This data was drawn from ChatGPT   65% of   world (as in PLANET EARTH) debt is owned by Large global financial institutions like BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street...and BANKS 💲. Little much would you not say?