Next phase of subscription transition announced

[Richard Doll]

Dear Community Members, 

Following my recent Graphisoft Insights post on the Subscription transition update, we know how important this topic is for you as our clients and anticipate your comments and questions. To streamline communication, we’ve created this thread to gather everything in one place. We’ll also use it to identify topics that may need further clarification, which we’ll address on our FAQ page.

Please note that while we cannot respond to individual questions in the forum, your local representative is available for personalized support.

Best regards,
Richard

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

[Ransom Ratcliff]

I can appreciate the tactic of lighting a fire under GS to do the right thing for all of us.

But honestly, a move to Revit would be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

The difference is so astounding that I would take ArchiCAD 17 over Revit 2024, unless I had to work on a Revit project.

Indeed, if I didn't need to Teamwork between offices, I'd rather use ArchiCAD 9 SE than the current Revit BIM 360; especially if I needed to do a large project with a large team in the same office.

The one area where Revit has long crushed us in the North American market has been localization and libraries. But the workarounds we must implement are not nearly as painful as using Revit itself. (Keynotes has been one of those Revit features that still outshine us, btw. But we are closing the gap significantly, OTB with 28.)

[Kalib Stewart]

To each their own, but I can use either one competently so will just work with the best tool value wise at the time.

Add to the fact that Revit has a stronghold in Australia/NZ for the majority of larger practices + their construction cloud is an all in one solution + all of our consultants are on it and it would make coordination easier + a wider hiring pool for firms + more job opportunities for it as an employee; it's a no brainer to move. 

The value for money is not even comparable either, and at least with Revit, I can anticipate an actual upgrade to a tool somewhere between releases. It may not be much, but it's a hell of a lot more than we got with archicad 28 - just sub-par keynotes and some more Graphisoft lies.

[PrzemN]

You may like it or not, but Revit has become a standard with it's ecosystem, no matter if we like it or not. So the question is - if a big companies are willing to pay subscription fee knowing that they will have to deal with usual Archicad's compatibility issues? There is also a question of a small offices, who are not having a product suitable for their needs now. What would they do? If Revit will have a right pricing model for old Archicad users to switch I will not hesitate to switch, also if there is some other bim solution available. 

[Francois_MCD]

Hi @Richard Doll 

About the new offer for perpetual license users to "Convert  to Archicad Studio".
If users on perpetual & SSA/Forward convert licenses to Archicad Studio subscription in 2025, will they be able to upgrade to the full Collaborate subscription later?

[Francois_MCD]

@Richard Doll 

Graphisoft's info also indicate that the subscription licenses will only be compatible to open project files from Archicad 26 & newer.

As I understand it, if users choose to keep some of their licenses on Perpetual after end of 2025, these licenses will remain at Archicad 30. These Archicad 30 licenses will be compatible to open project files at least back to Archicad 13.

Will Graphisoft maintain operating system compatibility for +/-3years / versions as they did before or will all compatibility updates be stopped immediately after end of 2025?

[Martin Jan Rosa]

Dear GS, dear Richard, 

In the linked article I was interested in the paragraph

"SSA/FWD customers can convert to Archicad Collaborate subscriptions at the same price as SSA/FWD in 2024. Starting in 2025, they can convert to Archicad Studio subscriptions at the same price. This offer is designed to help SSA/FWD customers fully benefit from Graphisoft’s subscription offerings at a highly preferential price."

So does this mean that I can take out a Collaborate subscription until the end of 2024 that will be priced permanently (!?) at the same rate as my SSA/FWD?

My SSA/FWD contract (locally called Support Pack over here) is about 1/3 of the annual Archicad Collaborate subscription (this is a standard price on our market). So this option is very interesting for me (and, frankly, fair, since the SSA/FWD contract is of course linked to the purchase of a much more expensive license in the past).

How exactly to make the switch to Collaborate? Will it be done by a local vendor partner or directly by Graphisoft? (I've asked both of them just in case, but I'm wondering what kind of answer I can expect.)

Is there a catch or is it really a fair offer for loyal customers? 

[Erik Bjornhage]

Here: https://graphisoft.com/convert-ssa-forward-to-archicad-collaborate

It reaonably clearly states that depending on what billing cycle you choose the price will be locked in for a certain timeframe.

It is not a permanent discount but after a couple of years you will be paying the full Collaborate price.

[Barry Kelly]

You can lock in for 3 years at your current SSA/FWD support fees, with an option to extend for a further 3 years as I understand it.

The catch is, you have to stump the 3 year few up front in one go, or you can pay yearly with a 10% surcharge.

I believe the 3 year deal has to be done through your local partner.

Barry.

[Martin Jules]

@Barry Kelly wrote:

You can lock in for 3 years at your current SSA/FWD support fees, with an option to extend for a further 3 years as I understand it.

The catch is, you have to stump the 3 year fee up front in one go, or you can pay yearly with a 10% surcharge.

I believe the 3 year deal has to be done through your local partner.

Barry.

---

I wonder why it's so difficult to understand the company's statements:

"Starting in 2026, Archicad will be available for purchase only through subscription. Archicad SSA/FWD customers can convert to Archicad Collaborate subscriptions at the same price as SSA/FWD in 2024. Starting in 2025, SSA/FWD customers can convert to Archicad Studio subscriptions at the same price as SSA/FWD. This offer was designed to help SSA/FWD customers take full advantage of Graphisoft’s subscription offerings at a very preferential starting price. Early movers in 2024 are getting the added benefits of cloud collaboration included by default."

The sentence in bold is different from your explanations @Barry Kelly . 

[Martin Jules]

It appears users could also pay annually within a commitment for a three-year-term:

[Barry Kelly]

---

@Martin Jules wrote:

"Starting in 2026, Archicad will be available for purchase only through subscription. Archicad SSA/FWD customers can convert to Archicad Collaborate subscriptions at the same price as SSA/FWD in 2024. Starting in 2025, SSA/FWD customers can convert to Archicad Studio subscriptions at the same price as SSA/FWD. This offer was designed to help SSA/FWD customers take full advantage of Graphisoft’s subscription offerings at a very preferential starting price. Early movers in 2024 are getting the added benefits of cloud collaboration included by default."

The sentence in bold is different from your explanations @Barry Kelly . 

---

I don't think so.

Starting in 2026, there will only be subscription available.

Until the end of 2024 SSA/FWD customers can switch to collaboration at the same price a their current SSA/FWD support.

From 2025 the 3 year deal is gone, and it is only yearly subscription with the cost increasing each year until the full subscription cost is met, as i understand it.

Seems the website keeps changing a bit.

You will need to speak to your local distributor for clarification.

There is a 3 year deal paid up front.

There is also a yearly payment, but you still have to commit for 3 years. It used to say there was a 10% surcharge if you opted for this - it does not show that now.

Although FAQ 7 does say this ...

Barry.

[PrzemN]

So, now we know why all the latest Archicad releases were so bad and not interesting. They will hold everything new until the version 31 with plans to make us change our minds about not going on with those insanely expensive subscription model ( for the program we also had to pay a lot ). The way I think about this right now is either they will change its mind  all they will lose their clients. I am not going to switch, that's for sure, so these are few licences less for g$ 🙂

[torben_wadlinger]

Well, looking at the last financial report of the Nemetschek Group the revenue skyrocketed with the switch to subscription (+ 50%-points from 2019 to 2023, that’s +10%-points every year!). There is no reason for GS going back - unless we force them to. But for every user who will stick with last version of AC in 2026 (e.g. me) there will be new users, younger users, who never knew other than subscription. 

here is a video from down under about the new prices in Australia 

https://youtu.be/WWnKN36n-9c?feature=shared

[Archibaltic]

Graphisoft doesn't seem to understand why we pay for licenses to work in the cloud!.

Well, in my case it is a necessity, but only when we are working on larger projects.

Then the cost of the license is included in the contract with the client and is of secondary importance to us - then we pay and do not complain. Graphisoft can forget that we will pay absurdly high fees for monthly licenses.

Not to mention annual, when we don't know how much we will actually earn - it's a freelance profession, sometimes it's better, sometimes worse, and other times you do something completely different and ArchiCad rests.

My declaration to Graphisoft: I do not intend to pay high subscriptions, higher than currently, every quarter.

I won't be fooled by a discount on a subscription at a reduced price for three years - and then be left with projects that I won't open because I can't, for example, afford the subscription in a given year or month.

To sum up, change of conditions, my announce is = zero payments.

Look at Microsoft Office... today I read that they have released the 2024 package for those who do not want the subscription model and this awaits you too!

[ryejuan]

that's why most of the companies that are smart enough will switch to those free open source software like google docs, Blender BIM getting there... so if they want to their loyal clients and users to stay with them better come up with a better business model for this.

[torben_wadlinger]

@Richard Doll I'm sorry to correct your post, but on this topic there is no communication but only announcements by Graphisoft. Communication means there is a dialogue at least between to parties. Huw Roberts decided to cancel real communication and to do this fake communication via this forum.

Now, Huw is history and you took over his seat. But obviously nothing has changed. Therefore Archicad needs change badly. Some years ago Archicad was developed for the needs of architects. Reading the annual report shows the shareholders are more important than we the clients. If you have a serious and unbiased look at your main product you must agree that for all the money we pay the outcome is very little. To be honest: year after year the new version is an embarresment. We have no single v27-project and the only reason switching to v26 was the new search-field, which really makes working easier. We will switch to v28 because of the pointcloud improvement, which is no real improvement but a third party tool. Such a shame! After ten years GS has to buy a third party add-on which is awfully integrated and follows no Archicad UI and UX guides. Not to talk about the very rudimentary keynote-tool. Your roadmap gets longer and longer, the "wishes" piles up. Most of these are not really wishes but heavily needed bug fixes and improvements to end the daily workarounds.

The two times price raise this year was very - unpleasant. Now it’s on GS to deliver! Fast! Time runs out in 2026.

[Martin Jules]

This miscommunication is one of the blunder's causes. Graphisoft decided to invest in what we neither asked for nor needed. Now, they want us to pay for the price. Self-respecting practitioners will not charge their clients for unnecessary features in software...

[Karl Ottenstein]

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@torben_wadlinger wrote:

Now, Huw is history and you took over his seat.

---

Just to clarify, while Huw Roberts is indeed history, Richard Doll has not taken over as CEO... the new CEO is Daniel Csillag, who appeared in the October 2 product launch stream for Archicad 28.

[torben_wadlinger]

You're right! I apologise for my incorrect assignment. Due to the many staff changes, I have now lost the overview ...

[thesleepofreason]

Yes, Richard is CRO as in chief revenue officer and of course most appreciative of our support as they make their money grab transition - no kidding.

[mthd]

The figures for actual revenue from Archicad need to be considered in the light of the fact that they are offering both models at present. So called Perpetual and Subscription only. Once it is subscription only with no ownership then a full comparison can made as to whether that was a good decision or not. Not until after 2026 will it become truely apparent. Will most hang onto an older version or will they have both irons in the fire ? Time will tell. Right now it makes sense to have some Perpetual licenses up your sleeve. Hopefully they do not skimp on content in the next couple of versions of Archicad ?