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-...

[Stefan Videnov]

Can you ellaborate on how Archicad fell behind further?

[Eric Milberger]

Revit dominance (not excellence else is 100 miles ahead and going 100 mils per hour in a Corvette

Archicad is 1960 MGB that looks cool, classy beautiful but gets on the road once a month going 50 mph on the back roads.

It does not matter that  Archicad is better in many ways it is that without some forward thinking we will always fall behind.  Further and further.

[jl_lt]

About five years ago i think Archicad was a few sensible tweaks and features away of completely surpassing Revit, at least in the architectural design department.  

about 7 seven years ago, many markets, at least latin american markets, where still up for grabs. maybe you wouldnt have a bunch of super staffed design companies there that would buy you dozens upon dozens of licences, but you would get many, many, many small ones that also needed sofrware, and with the right incentives would have been  more than willing to pay for it.

then Archicad developement derailed, big time.

i just wonder if the current state of affairs is the result of terrible desicions (or inaction) taken in the past and they are trying to (monetarily) make up for it, OR was this the plan all along.

i actually prefer the first scenario.

but i dont know about You guys, i really do not appreciate the way GS is trying to come up with a fake smile and try to sell all this as if it was for our benefit.  

[Eric Milberger]

But Revit is the bid DOG and most entities require yo work in Revit.

Just lost a Job Entity because I don't use Revit.

They wont use anything but. 

At this point it does not matter if it is better.

[Francois Swanepoel]

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 Swanepoel]

@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.

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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]

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@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 . 

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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.

[cocoloco]

I have archicad solo and every year I receive annual fee increases. Not to mention I have never had an option to purchase software and choose whether I want to update or not, I have archicad for 3 years and have to pay the annual fee every year which is over $2.500 an year. Are you all saying you don’t pay any annual fees? 

[Erik Bjornhage]

This discussion was regarding the pricing structure for Archicad COllaborate - and since the discussion took place four months ago the information should be regarded as outdated.

We have since converted to Archicad Collaborate since we were an SSA customer (and in regards to your question, our yearly fee would have been the SSA fee - roughly USD 1000 per year). Now however, it is a different story so the discussion would have to be updated to reflect what has happened over the last four months.

[cocoloco]

ahhh! I came late to the table 😄 Thank you for responding 🙂  I wish archicad would have some sort of discounts for long term users, such as me even if solo. I think the pricing is too much though, especially considering there really are not any updates that are affecting interior designers 

[Karl Ottenstein]

If you are paying over $2500/year for Solo, @cocoloco , then you probably should consider a subscription to Studio (or better value if you work with others, Collaborate).  I’ve not read anything about Solo being continued… but for that annual cost, Studio gives you more features for the same or less $$.

This is not the thread to discuss this in… find the Studio thread… but see this and the links there…

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Graphisoft-Insights/Archicad-Studio-Empowering-Solo-Architects-a...

[cocoloco]

I had no idea that archicad has "Studio" type at all, why did I had archicad to start with and not studio? 😄 Haha Thank you so much again! 

[Barry Kelly]

'Studio' subscription is new this year.

Barry.

[Laszlo Nagy]

Archicad Studio was announced about two weeks ago so it is a very new offering.

[cocoloco]

Ahhh I see! I know its probably not a good space to discuss this further but in short do you know if there any difference between the studio and solo? I looked it up online and really can’t tell? 

[Francois Swanepoel]

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@cocoloco wrote:

do you know if there any difference between the studio and solo? I looked it up online and really can’t tell? 

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@cocoloco 

This is an excellent question that is probably relevant to both current Archicad Solo & Archicad (full) version (perpetual license) users that still have the option to switch to either the Collaborate / Studio subscription licenses.