Will the MEP Designer no longer be part of the Archicad Studio plan?

[Martin Jan Rosa]

I recently came across a current comparison of the Archicad Collaborate and Studio plans, and I was surprised to see a note stating that the MEP Modeler will only be included in the Studio plan until this October.

Is this really the case?

Furthermore, there are rumors circulating in our local market that the Studio subscription will only allow the use of the localized version (and no other, including INT). This would be a major issue for many offices that frequently work in international teams and often use both the localized and INT versions. Not to mention that I personally also use the INT version of Archicad from time to time due to the very poor translations of certain parts (for example, when creating GDL elements, the localized version sometimes makes me feel like I’m under the Tower of Babel).

This seems like yet another unfair move related to the long-term transition to subscriptions. It doesn’t affect me directly—I’ve already switched to Collaborate—but I know several offices that declined last year’s offer to move to Collaborate precisely because they were counting on Studio. Now, they are quite unpleasantly surprised by these previously uncommunicated conditions.

On a positive note, though—I see that the AI Visualizer, whose exclusive inclusion in Collaborate last year caused quite a stir, is now suddenly listed under both plans… 😉

[Karl Ottenstein]

Excellent questions and post!  In addition to the MEP and INT questions, I hope that we will hear more on the pricing strategy.   From what I can see, each country will see a different version of the comparison page with local pricing,   For the US, the Solo subscription is just $1 cheaper than the Studio subscription, making me wonder why they offer Solo at all since it is so limited compared to Studio.

[Martin Jan Rosa]

The Solo plan isn’t available in our market at all. And with only about a 10% price difference between Collaborate and Studio, I think most rational users will opt for the more expensive plan. (Honestly, I believe GS initially intended to "motivate" users toward this step by excluding AI Visualizer but later realized that removing MEP Modeler would upset users even more.)

The ironic part is that the Studio plan probably isn’t even available for purchase in our market yet. I had planned to switch to Studio as part of the discounted subscription transition offer from a perpetual license—luckily, I didn’t go through with it and was persuaded to choose Collaborate instead. If I had gone with Studio, I wouldn’t have been able to use it this year anyway, as my SSA expired in mid-January, meaning I would have lost access to Studio (and missed out on the better deal with Collaborate).

GS just keeps adding to its communication chaos…

[StefanV_BCP]

From the following link : https://bit.ly/3QJUEJ4

i can deduce that in Version 29. MEP capabilities will be only available  for subscription, and even that its gonna be only available to full version of the subscription plan. 

Which begs the question, what about SSA/Forward users that firmly said no to the subscription base? Are they being punished?

Truly gross approach, definitely lost a  faith in further development, and makes me think what are my next step in tool usage.

Such a shame...

[Barry Kelly]

I see there is a new post in the insights forum telling us what Studio has.

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

Maybe @Pelin Haynes , you could tell us what Studio does not have in comparison to the full collaboration subscription.

We know Collaboration has everything, we need to know what will be missing from Studio.

Barry.

[jl_lt]

I dont know, but surely there are some chinese or indian software companies paying attention to all this fiasco and getting ready to offer better stuff. 

[Pelin Haynes]

Hi @Barry Kelly, thank you for your question and I am happy to elaborate. 

Studio includes the full Archicad version (similar to Collaborate) with only one exception: MEP Designer will not be part of Archicad Studio starting from Archicad 29. (It will also be removed from Archicad 28 for Archicad Studio). All other feature sets are exactly the same in both plans. 

In terms of BIMcloud, Studio will have BIMcloud Basic, so any BIMcloud SaaS related features will not be available. For more detailed comparison, please check this link: https://graphisoft.com/solutions/bimcloud/#compare

And finally, for BIMx, in Studio, you get the same BIMxPro features as Collaborate apart from BIMcloud messaging and sending issues directly to Archicad, which are part of BIMcloud SaaS. 

I hope all these help you understand the difference between the two plans.

Pelin

[StefanV_BCP]

Hi @Pelin Haynes ,

What happens to the users that remained on perpetual licenses on SSA/Forward model? Will they retain the MEP or not? What are the restrictions?

Cheers,

Stefan

[runxel]

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@Pelin Haynes  schrieb:

 MEP Designer will not be part of Archicad starting from Archicad 29. (It will also be phased out in Archicad 28).

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Excuse me, but: "huh"?

What do you mean, "phased out"? Are you saying you're taking away features that already are in the software?

That sounds very shady. I'm really trying to give GS credits, but this is such an absurd direction it is taking....

Will the MEP Designer remain in the "Collaborate" version, or will it be axed completely?

[Karl Ottenstein]

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@Pelin Haynes wrote:

MEP Designer will not be part of Archicad starting from Archicad 29. (It will also be phased out in Archicad 28). All other feature sets are exactly the same in both plans. 

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Hi Pelin,

Could you clarify what is meant by MEP being phased out of 28?  And not available at all in 29?

Does that mean that a future hotfix/update to 28 will both remove MEP functionality and fix some bugs at the same time, making it challenging for users to decide whether to apply the update or not?

And by not available at all in 29… does that apply to perpetual licenses as well as Studio and Collaborate subscriptions?  If so, is MEP moving to a different add in product then?

Thanks… and thanks for jumping in here as quickly as you have 😊

Karl