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]

We all know that those with perpetual licenses have already paid the purchase fee. Those who take out a subscription haven’t yet paid that fee but pay for it during the course of their subscription. So in effect they will pay a bigger fee to rent the software. Many of us have paid out big money for this software over many years. The way they choose to treat loyal customers in the future can have a great impact on whether they will be able to keep them onboard or not.

I personally see many users keeping their last SSA version and saying goodbye to Archicad and paying a subscription for another product or purchasing another product where applicable. That way they still have Archicad and something else to use as well for that money. Graphisoft and particularly Nemetschek are demanding a subscription now from loyal customers and many of them may actually choose something else out of spite. That’s just human nature in business transactions when one party feels they are no longer getting a good deal.

What GS & N bring to the table in the future roadmap will also have a significant impact on whether loyal customers will choose to take out a subscription or not. Right now Archicad may not be developing in the way some of us expected by eagerly pursuing MEP and engineering collaboration. The big end of town want Archicad to be used as much as Revit is. That will never happen because Archicad is Architectural software after all. Revit is used by engineers and they have the majority in many regions and is the preferred software of choice. 

GS should just stick to what they do best and just model share as accurately as possible with Revit, that should be the goal.

[CarmelM]

AC28 which is what I paid for will be my last Archicad version.  Honestly...the so called improvements just are so lukewarm it makes zero financial sense.  I only paid my yearly subscription (since 2006) because I was guaranteed to get the latest version.  This new subscription model makes little sense for Architectural practices.  Honestly, the software has just made the work we do so much more laborious and we are not able to charge for all of the extra work we do.  Getting literally screwed by Graphisoft (NM) is a bridge too far to travel over.  Imagine moving to their new subscription and hosting all your proprietary knowledge in their cloud and being held hostage to their annual pricing increases.  No thank you!  At this stage it makes sense to explore other platforms.  You could keep Archicad but then also switch to Revit which is much more of an industry standard.  They made us do this!!!!  There's the same discontent across the seas, from France, Australia, New Zealand.....They should be careful!!!

[mthd]

That is the sad reality of the situation to the ultimate detriment of Archicad. When you bring in a new CEO to focus on tweaking the dollars in any company and the focus goes off the quality of the product. It’s the same old story over and over again “Bring back the older product”. A CEO has to do what he is contacted to do by those above him. I personally liked the direction taken by the former CEO of GS, he had a great vision for improving the product as reflected in the older roadmap. I will keep using Archicad and paying SSA/FW till it stops providing upgrades. If they have a change of heart and bring back SSA/FW with upgrades I will stay on. I would be asking for a miraculous intervention and that will never happen with the current policy. So I just accept it for what it is.

[CarmelM]

You do realize that the SSA/FW annual increases will increase to the same subscription price within 3 years….that’s how they will force you to switch. 

[mthd]

I have read the FAQ’s and I am waiting for my distributor to contact me about my future options in my region. At this stage I am not considering taking out a subscription and when I stop paying SSA/FW will depend on what’s coming in the future roadmap as well as the cost. Everyone has different circumstances to consider before making their final decision.

[mthd]

Taking on Revit Engineering from Nemetschek Engineering will not be through Archicad alone but through these other products mentioned below. Please see this web page.

https://www.nemetschekengineering.com/

Notice these products are European based not American based.

[Barry Kelly]

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@CarmelM wrote:

You do realize that the SSA/FW annual increases will increase to the same subscription price within 3 years….that’s how they will force you to switch. 

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Not exactly true.

I think you will find that there will be no more SSA/Forward at all after December 2026.

So if you renew in December 2026 you will get support and upgrade to version 30) until the end of 2027.

Then there will only be subscription.

I am not sure what happens to those that renew earlier in the year , say June 2026 (before the latest version release).

Technically their last version will be 29 (supported until June 2027), unless they can pay a pro-rate fee to extend there support so they can get the 30 update in September/October.

Barry.

[rakurs]

Since I am paying every six months, common decency would suggest that Graphisoft would allow all users who will ride the SSA / Forward train until the last stop to exit at the same station.

However, that is absolutely not guaranteed, and some of us might end up with an older version just because of bad timing that noone in the world (not even Graphisoft) could have predicted.

[Jp1138]

We are also somewhat worried about this, as our yearly renewal comes at april, so we may be left with version 29 if not allowed to pay for the last update. As you say, it wouldn´t be too surprising, viewing how GS is handling all this...

[Botonis]

All current licensed users should have the same rights independently of their license renewal date or their localization. 

This expiration date of 31-12-24 should be customized between each local reseller and their clients.

Not by an AI cloud server.........