Make BIMx Pro free for SSA members

Rex Maximilian · ‎2023-02-09

It is the consensus that ArchiCAD 26's release was one of the most unimpressive upgrades in the long history of ArchiCAD upgrades. Factor in the price point for upgrades or SSA, and it may be at the top... especially since it came after a 10% price increase. Now with SSA for 2023 rising another 10%, it's time to raise the value of keeping SSA. One way is to include the subscription to BIMx Pro (at $9.95/mo) included for free to all SSA members.

You're charging essentially a THOUSAND dollars a year. Why nickel and dime us to death on things you should be including to have value-added SSA? Give us something for this price increase. Because the latest upgrades have not been worth it... especially when some new features are platform specific or only work with a BIMcloud membership as well.

Sketchup makes their model viewer app free to all subscribers. Graphisoft should do the same.

Roger C · ‎2023-02-09

I could not agree more. SSA should offer more value in addition to the annual update. At the moment, if it wasn't for that upgrade, I probably would have cancelled it.

DGSketcher · ‎2023-02-09

BIMx is one of those tools that isn't just a tool, it is also a marketing product that puts the name Graphisoft in far reaching places and raises their profile. From a basic client to collaboration, the more people use it the more the name spreads. I have a client who uses my models to promote his business and this becomes a talking point further promoting Graphisoft. So yes, I agree, Graphisoft need to review their "nickel & dime" strategy and look at making AC & BIMx the most talked about product, rather than the one where we say "I'd like to help but it became too expensive..."

Rex Maximilian · ‎2023-02-11

That's what irks me about this new Graphisoft. They're more interested in bleeding their base with fees, fees and more fees that they can't see the bigger picture of establishing an industry standard (they just leave that to Autodesk). To see the items in BIMx that are not available without shelling out more $$ is perplexing... Was doing a job for the military and gave them BIMx files. They of course researched the app a bit saw how BIMx allowed feedback from the client to the architect and asked me how to achieve this. I of course had to tell them that it cost $$... on top of the nearly $20,000 long-time users have spent per license on upgrades and SSA.

This model of conducting business with their installed base will not be sustainable.

Settle on an annual fee of $975 per license (since that's what they're going to) and include BIMx and BIMcloud as a service.

Help your user base help you Graphisoft.

I sense we are talking to a wall though as GS never responds or addresses these concerns. Four months since the ironically titled "Building Together" event and we haven't heard a thing from them.

Rex Maximilian · ‎2023-02-11

In contrast, Adobe, with their entire suite of services and apps, dwarfs Graphsoft's offering at only $660/year or so... and they give you EVERYTHING... not a single upsell.

That's why they're Adobe. Graphisoft had many opportunities to become the industry leader. Apple was once the little brother of Microsoft. When they couldn't gain marketshare in the computing arena, they basically invented a new game and became the most successful company in the world.

When AutoCAD was the leader in documentation, Graphisoft pioneered BIM. But instead of becoming the leaders in that arena, they sat back and watched Autodesk beat them at their own game by peddling a sh*t software like Revit.

Now they're doing the same thing again with cloud based solutions using BIMx and BIMcloud... all to make extra pennies from their base.

- - - -

Rex Maximilian · ‎2023-04-05

Still waiting on Graphisoft to address this.

Benjamin Dani · ‎2023-05-10

Dear All,

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts about this topic.

I'm glad to say we took notice and added this idea to our wishlist.

Please refer to it as WISH-12761. I really hope it will be implemented as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Roland Szabo

We resolved this in September 2023 by introducing the Graphisoft account-based cloud licensing in BIMx. Access to Pro features became a benefit given with an active SSA, Forward, or product subscription (e.g. Archicad Collaborate) — at no extra cost. Then in July 2024 we simplified it by making BIMx Pro a company-level benefit instead of a license assignment. More details: BIMx Licensing article.