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 ?

[Red]

This topic is a sore one for me. If you can continue with a perpetual license now, as they have in the past few years, they can also do it in the future. Eventually, we will all die off and eliminate the situation. 😆

My rant.... I have been a user since 1999, AC6, and have been a perpetual license owner since 2000. In my opinion, to maintain a happy customer base, it shouldn't be too difficult to ensure that long-standing perpetual license owners are well taken care of. I understand that any new purchase would be subscription only, but ostracizing a group that has been faithful and has invested in this company for over two decades is a slap in the face. Once other long-term users and I retire, what we have invested in over the years will be useless unless we "upgrade" to a subscription-based model to stay current with the software. So we either give in to the "upgrade" and stay current with the software, or we are ostracized to stay at AC30 for the remainder of our careers. So, if I "upgrade" and then need to access old files after retirement, I will be forced to have a subscription. Therefore, in the future, it could cost someone a significant amount to access their ArchiCAD files, which they have invested in for decades. When we were initially sold on the perpetual license, this was a major selling point for us. This is not an "upgrade"....

Perhaps I am in the minority with my thoughts, but I would be surprised if I were...

[Mauricio_br]

You are certainly not alone.

It is a serious blow to users' trust that Graphisoft unilaterally changes the rules of the game at the whim of the wind.

There is nothing more in keeping with this post-truth era in which we live than the existence of a perpetual license with a prophecy that announces that perpetual things now have an expiration date. A day and time to cease to exist.

For now, I will not send them any more money. I will wait, wait and see where the winds will take them in the future.

Maybe everything will change again...

[Sharpeyespanda]

 All Archicad perpetual licenses will be terminated at the end of 2026. This does not mean you'll lose the software you've already licensed — Graphisoft has made that promise, and I expect they'll uphold it. What it does mean is that going forward, you won't be able to upgrade your license unless you switch to a subscription model. The changes are significant: Archicad has already doubled in price, and now comes the subscription push. Personally, I don’t like it either. I prefer a straightforward model "you pay, you get". Not one where I invest my time, effort, sweat, and tears, to suddenly find myself kind of "on the hook". That's not nice is it? What do you say Daniel???

[torben_wadlinger]

Of course, GS will not switch off the licence servers immediately. But we have no statement by GS for how long they will let them run. Maybe five years, maybe ten, but for sure not twenty!

But how knows what will be in ten years ...

[jl_lt]

i have yet to meet someone who likes the idea of buying  a car and then happilly pay the seller a monthly rent for driving it. 

[Sharpeyespanda]

 

The Core Tools Behind CVS Design and likely all of you dear colleagues

Here’s a glimpse of the software that forms the backbone of our work at CVS Design — Microsoft Office, Archicad, Windows Pro, and more. These are hard copies bought long time ago already which give the ownership over your creations and the programs themselves. These aren’t just tools; they’re extensions of our creative process, our legacy, and even somewhat the keys to our intellectual property already made.

As architects, designers, and builders, the software we use is not simply a utility — it’s where our vision lives, evolves, and is preserved. The drawings, plans, and documents we create belong to us. They are our work and our property, of our past, present and our future.

Yet, the current industry trend toward subscription-only software licenses risks putting a company’s grip on what should be ours to keep. Imagine retiring or deciding to step back — the software companies claim the right to cut off access to your creations. This raises a fundamental question about ownership, freedom, and the future of creative work.

Are we, as creators, simply renting our ability to shape the world? Or do we deserve true ownership of the digital tools and outputs that define our legacy?

At CVS Design, we believe in building not just spaces, but a sustainable, empowering path for creators — one that respects ownership and long-term value beyond mere subscriptions.

There should be a choice whether you wanna buy or rent the software that is tied to so much. If its not, companies that give no choice are breaking ethical barriers. My two cents. What are your thoughts on that, Daniel Csillag,Chief Executive Officer*"???

Wholeheartedly — Andrey, Founder & CEO

www.cvshomedesign.com | cvsdesign@mail.com

[Mauricio_br]

An excellent point of view and a powerful argument. Here's something to think about.

[torben_wadlinger]

Guys, this ship has sailed. The game is over. Elvis has left the building. It's done. Gone with the wind. Over and out.

[Sharpeyespanda]

With that attitude for some it just might 🙂 .  Think Torben, think...

[Jp1138]

This has been coming from years ago. Everybody with eyes in his face could see what steps GS was taking to make this "transtition", and has been extensibly discussed in these forums, since at least, I don´t know 2021 with the launch of Forward?... If five years of people complaining here of the direction GS was taking have done nothing, I can´t see how they can go back now to susbcription, when they even have taken away their perpetual licences from many users.  The only thing that may happen it´s they having to lower the prices or launch special offers to old clients if everything goes horribly wrong, but I don´t see it happening either 😓

[Sharpeyespanda]

Sorry Jp1138 but your comment is riddled with cognitive dissonance, hopefully just unintentional.....there is no logical reason why they could not keep the policy currently in power and remake the offer on purchasing the software as it was. Big deal enough is that they doubled the price for it, which is fine, I guess...considering the market situation... 

[Jp1138]

Of course they could do whatever they want: they could give even the program free to everyone, but they they are taking lots of steps to just one thing: earn more money, the logical thing for their stockholders, not for you or me. They think they will earn more money this way and they are not backing down the path they took five years ago o more. They have invested a lot in getting to this point, and, how could the managers of GS justify a return to perpetual for the benefit of the users? Are they earning more money now? I suppose, at least in the short term, yes. So, why return to the past? Isn´t every other BIM software also subscription only? They don´t want to give up their part of the share 🤑 Archicad is no longer from Architects for architects, it would seem. It´s now from one corporation to another, and the small firms have been left behind.

[Sharpeyespanda]

....I see there is a lot to unpack there with you. Nevertheless, Graphisoft and any other company should think to bring their offer back to optional buy the licence thingy for all the reasons I already set here and everything that, and more, connects to. Every single person who has invested his time, money and effort into Archicad has interest to be so. 

[Jp1138]

Maybe there is a language barrier here 😜

Of course I prefer that GS would maintain the perpetual version of Archicad, as that was one of the reasons we decided to use Archicad instead of other options in the first pace.

I even think that this move may prove a bad one for the company in the long term, but that is just a personal opinion that probably has little basis compared to the data they know.

I have been complaining around here since the first movements were seen long ago.

But we are past the point of telling GS what "they should do". They can do whatever they want and they prove it every day with the decisions they make with how Archicad is evolving, not only regarding this subscription debacle.

We can only speak with our wallet, I´m afraid, as that is the only language a company understands. And right now we are somewhat trapped with the software we use, but we have lost every "loyalty" we ever had to GS, so we are ready to jump ship as soon as it makes sense for us.

I´m begining to feel like this comic, so I will stop now 😜

[torben_wadlinger]

You don't get it. There is NO way that GS will change this. We had this discussion for five years. We had it with GS directly. Let's burry this. It's not about the customer. It's not about architecture or BIM or what ever. It's about the shareholder. It's about revenue. It's about money. Period!

[Sharpeyespanda]

Yeah, I’ve been told I am stubborn—but what people miss to acknowledge is that I’m stubborn in all the right places. So , "period"...unlikely.

[Nader Belal]

There is a dimension to this issue that I believe that you are missing.

Most of the BIM software applications are subscription based. What can we do if what ever project we have to present (basically to the government) can only be done in BIM?

[Sharpeyespanda]

I don't do GDL... 🙂 maybe that's why I don't relate to your comment. Archicad was and should stay an optional buy the software solution. Period.

[Nader Belal]

I didn't understand the relation in your comment about GDL and BIM. But ok.

[Sharpeyespanda]

I caught your underscored comment -"A good friend of mine have once told me that I´m so brute that I´m capable of creating a GDL script capable of creating GDLs."-so I took a shot at your comment i did reply on with a joke...well, I guess it did not work....or maybe it did 🤔...while I really don't engage GDL....I am more of a hands on guy than resorting to code...

[Mauricio_br]

As a software, Archicad is really good.
My point is the volatility in licensing management.
It's hard to trust a company that is always changing the rules during the game.