Another SSA Price Increase!

[Rex Maximilian]

I've been off the boards for a bit, so I'm not sure this has been discussed previously, but...

There is another SSA price increase! For anyone doing the math, in 2022, 2023 and now 2024, in the span of 24 months, that is a 25% price increase.

Why Graphisoft?

I am still crashing on my MacTel machine. Even on the Apple Silicon version I have to restart every now and then when strange anomalies arise, only in ArchiCAD, and one that tech support says they can't solve.

How can there be justification for raising the price AGAIN when you've just put out a perpetually buggy version of ArchiCAD? Maybe the buggiest one to date. We Mac users to wait months after release for solutions to the crashing. This is seriously bordering on a breach of contract or lack of good faith on GS's part. We paid for software that we had a reasonable expectation of stability for, but to date, there seems to not be a crash proof version... and then you raise the price.

Graphisoft ( @Marton Kiss   @Akos Pfemeter) we need a legitimate explanation and most likely a repeal of this price increase. Again, this is the third price increase totaling around 25% in the past 24 months.

My suspicion is that this is a tactic by GS to force perpetual license holders (their most loyal of customers) onto their subscription model.

Operating system used: Mac Apple Silicon 14.4.1

[mthd]

I paid my SSA/FW just yesterday and it certainly has increased greatly in the last 5 years as I can remember in my region. It certainly is an area of great concern and the main alternative CAD/BIM software systems are mostly subscription only. The subscription prices being asked are very high because they are not being paid a purchase license fee at the beginning like we have for a perpetual license. So that needs to be taken into account when calculating what the SSA/FW price should be. 

An example of Chief Architect : Prices are in USD, a perpetual license when they were available were around $3500, with a yearly SSA fee of $595 per year. The subscription price is $1995 per year. Legacy SSA has recently increased to $695 so SSA is only 35% of a yearly subscription fee.

BTW CA is not in the same category as AC and its subscription fee is highly inflated I feel when compared to true CAD/BIM software.

What is the comparison for us ? Are we paying 100% of the Subscription fee just to remain on SSA, I haven’t calculated the figures but maybe someone here could help us ? I would think that 50% of the subscription fee would be fair in anyone’s region for SSA/FW for AC.

Anyway we all have to make our own decisions as to what we will do in going forward. If we choose to play carnival ride CAD/BIM software, we will have lots of learning to do in order to take a ride with each one of them lol !

[Barry Kelly]

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@mthd wrote:

What is the comparison for us ? Are we paying 100% of the Subscription fee just to remain on SSA, I haven’t calculated the figures but maybe someone here could help us ? I would think that 50% of the subscription fee would be fair in anyone’s region for SSA/FW for AC.

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Have a look at what a collaborate subscription will cost you.

https://graphisoft.com/buy-now?utm_source=GSHQ&utm_medium=Homepage+Buy+Now+Button&utm_campaign=buyNo...

And that is the monthly cost and prices do vary depending on where you are.

That is way more than my company is paying for SSA support.

How does that compare to what you just paid? (you do not have to tell us the actual figures).

Barry.

[mthd]

Yes thanks those prices are for collaboration and I am not in that category so I can’t really make an accurate comparison.

I am happy to stick with AC for the present otherwise I would not have paid it and would have taken an alternative solution for my business model.

If others want to take the CAD/BIM carnival ride, they are entitled to do so if it is in their own business interests.

Revit full is quite overpriced and not worth what they are asking for it. Autodesk has a big market share from AutoCAD and farmed many of them over to Revit. Revit Lt is cheap but they hook you with the bait in spending your energy learning the software. 

I may never take a subscription if I can help it, from any one of those companies including GS. That’s just not how I do business. What others do is their prerogative.

[Barry Kelly]

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@mthd wrote:

Yes thanks those prices are for collaboration and I am not in that category so I can’t really make an accurate comparison.

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Subscription is collaboration (Archicad + BIMCloud + BIMx) plus all of the support extras.

SSA/Forward support is just Archicad plus support, and you can pay extra for BIMCloud licenses if you do not just want the free BIMCloud.

So that is exactly the comparison you need to make.

Barry.

[spastor]

I've been an Archicad user for 20 years and have always been proud to use it. Graphisoft was a reliable company that made very good software and took care of its users and customers.

In Spain, we paid €550 per license until 2022 for several years. But the change came in 2023 when suddenly we started paying €742, which means a 35%!!! increase in one year. This doesn't stop here because in 2024 we will pay €942, which means a 20%!!! increase.

In two years, the SSA has risen by 62%. I don't know of any other case of such a drastic price increase. Graphisoft, What is the reason for this outrageous price increase? Have we received a proportional increase in the quality of Archicad in return for this increment?

To this is added the fact that, for several versions now, the improvements in the software have been very slight. They are small changes that are well received, but far from being a "revolution."

Therefore, Graphisoft is no longer a "friendly" provider; it has become one of those companies that bleed you dry, taking advantage of the fact that for many of us, it is not easy to switch to another software and adapt our workflow to that new software. The feeling is one of absolute disaffection with Graphisoft.

However, no matter how difficult a software transition may be, you can't pull the string too tight because eventually it snaps.

What a shame!!!

[rm]

Exactly - but it’s not unique to Spain. They are bleeding us here in the US, and from what is posted here, it’s happening all over the world. It’s pure greed, nothing else! The software is no longer a value as it was in the ‘90s through 2000. 

[jl_lt]

They either believe people cannot do projects without 3d software anymore or they know that either them or the BIM software industry as a whole is on its last legs and are milking as much as they can while they can to whomever they can. Could be all of  this at once.

Also, I dont think for one second they are going to innovate on anything once they get this coveted extra cash flow, quite the contrary:

Everyones´ favorite (by imposition) 2dcad package has been selling basically the same product since 2002, so why not try the same move?

[Jp1138]

And at least you could stop paying SSA right now and use the software as is as long as it works while you look for an alternative.

Imagine this situation with the new subscription model, where you are totally defenseless, as you cannot just stop paying no matter how much they choose to charge you.

This doesn´t seem the way to earn confidence for the new model, GS...

[jl_lt]

You either die a hero... Or live long enough to see yourself become: Revit?

[proto]

It does seem the BIM companies have us over a barrel -- the alternatives aren't at all equal products. But as a small US practice, I fear AC is going to push me into Revit eventually. The whole discount to prepay 3yrs isn't a much of a discount, and the target push of that incentive is for something I don't actually use as a small company: cloud services. I can't help but believe it's more of a business capitalization project for Nemetschek, given how unincentivized it seems to be for the user base that could be the growth seed for the expansion of AC to more of the industry.