Subscription pricing for Archicad

[Stephen Dolbee]

Well, after reading about Revit's subscription pricing and many negative comments about it, now Archicad is doing the same thing. We just received notice from our reseller the opportunity to "subscribe" for the low price or $495 if done before end of Sept. $695 after that. I don't know if this is a good thing or bad. If promised a major upgrade each subscription year, that might not be a bad thing. I didn't see any comment about that, though. Anyone know?

Steve

[Karl Ottenstein]

TomWaltz wrote:
I do like the idea, I just think it would make sense to start this kind of program closer to the actual release date of the next version.

Well, more sense for the user maybe. 😉 But, it still seems like a very good value (at the pre-Sept 30 price anyway) to me ... since the total price is less than an upgrade usually costs - so even without the other stuff, the customer does save. At current interest rates, or even stock market returns, the subscription (pre-Sept 30) is a better investment - if one plans to upgrade to 10 anyway.

I agree: many people will have no use for Virtual Tutor, and some already have the 3D Profiler... so they should have some alternative so that they get something of value rather than a DVD to recycle or sell on ebay. I don't think that aspect of the program was thought out well enough.

From the customer side, the only other aspect I see - beyond budget planning - is the ability to shift the upgrade expense into this tax year if the firm or individual expects this year's income tax bracket to be higher than next year's.

Naturally, for GS and the resellers, this is a way to get revenue "booked" not only into the 3rd quarter about to end (by offering the extra discount), but also into the full year: a pretty standard business practice to improve quarterly and annual net income. (The Graphisoft fiscal year corresponds to the calendar year.)

The message in the letter that there will be one major upgrade per year now - vs each 18 months - means that the price guarantees AC 10, and when renewed, AC 11. Sure, not knowing what will be in AC 10 makes it a gamble - but then that's why they're offering discounts and incentives to book the revenue. (Sort of like the Priceline 4 star hotel in NYC near 42nd street - you don't really know which one it will be, but that's why they're giving you a good price.) Naturally, people who aren't sure will just wait.

Cheers,
Karl

[Aussie John]

Karl wrote:
The message in the letter that there will be one major upgrade per year now - vs each 18 months - means that the price guarantees AC 10, and when renewed, AC 11. Sure, not knowing what will be in AC 10 makes it a gamble - but then that's why they're offering discounts and incentives to book the revenue. (Sort of like the Priceline 4 star hotel in NYC near 42nd street - you don't really know which one it will be, but that's why they're giving you a good price.) Naturally, people who aren't sure will just wait.

Cheers,
Karl

Seems to me guaranteeing updates every 12 mths is a recipe for rushed upgrades with bugs. Also where is the developer incentive for new features if you dont have to convince people to buy your upgrade.

[Anonymous]

Tax rules are different in each country. Something that Graphisoft may or may not be aware of is that in Australia if I make a purchase under $1000 I can write this amount off completely in one year (ie a one off cost deduction from my gross income).

If the purchase is over $1000 I then have to depreciate the purchase depending upon the Tax Office depreciation rules. I think in the case of software it is 33% per year. If Graphisoft priced their upgrades at under $1000 I would upgrade whenever a new version came out, business being good, and I am sure many other architects would do the same. Our upgrades here are $1159 plus 10% GST for a single license.

I understand that Graphisoft may have to charge that bit extra over $1000 however from my business point of view I am sure GS would sell many more upgrades in Australia if the upgrade was less than $1000. This is not complicated and GS would be making more money in my opinion by selling more upgrades.

Cheers,

[glenn_peters]

The subscription offer makes sense for those who may still be running older ArchiCAD versions (yes, there are a few still chugging along with 8.1 or earlier... )

While the pricing is a bit different in Canada than the United States, similarly discounted upgrades to AC9 are bundled into the subscription offering (typically 50% of the "regular" cost).

So, for those firms with some (or all) of their AC dongles running 8.1/8.0 or earlier, the subscription plan is probably money well invested.

[TomWaltz]

Has anyone heard if Graphisoft is offering volume discounts on this?

I just keep thinking that subscribing for 30 licenses is a whole lot of money.... or maybe it's time to consolidate to Network Licensing. Has anyone done that on Mac?