Shift to a subscription model - your questions are welcome

[Akos Pfemeter]

Dear Community,

You may have already read the press release or the Insights post about our strategic shift to a subscription model. 

Here is a quick summary of the news:

BUDAPEST, April 2, 2024—Graphisoft, the leading Building Information Modeling (BIM) software solution developer for architecture and multidisciplinary design, today announced that, as part of its strategic shift to a sustainable subscription software delivery model, perpetual licenses will be gradually phased out by the end of 2025. This change does not affect the delivery of Software Service Agreement (SSA)/Forward subscription services to existing customers. 

Archicad perpetual and SSA/Forward licenses will be available for new customers through December 31, 2024, and to existing customers through December 31, 2025. Starting in 2026, Archicad will be available only through subscription. Active SSA/Forward contracts will continue to be serviced beyond 2025. Alternatively, SSA/Forward customers can convert to Archicad Collaborate subscriptions at the same price as SSA/Forward. This offer is designed to help existing SSA/Forward subscribers take full advantage of the Archicad Collaborate subscription, which combines award-winning Archicad for architectural design with BIMx and BIMcloud SaaS for fast, efficient, secure, real-time access to shared projects.

Please ask your questions and share your thoughts here -- Graphisoft's expert team will try and provide answer to all sorts of questions you may have!
Thank you.
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Edit by Moderator:  here is the link to the evolving information/FAQ page about this announcement:

https://graphisoft.com/convert-ssa-forward-to-archicad-collaborate/faq

[Karl Ottenstein]

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@JaredBanks wrote:

I do have a question.

With the promotion to switch from perpetual + SSA to subscription, will there be a prorated discount for those of us part way through our yearly SSA? I just paid my SSA two weeks ago. Did I just get scammed out of $1,157.63? If I switched to subscription next week, did I just give GRAPHISOFT that money for nothing? If I wait until late December, did I pay for 8 months of SSA for the cost of 12 months of SSA? Has GRAPHISOFT thought about this?

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See my post about the conversion promotion.  You can convert your SSA to a subscription at the same price as current subscription... so 11.5 months pre-paid if you convert today I guess -  but I'd hope they'd just go ahead and give you a year... but the promo for conversion requires a 3 year payment up front (!) ... so you'd have to pay another 1,157.63 x 2 to get a 3 year pre-paid subscription.  Then for years 4 through 6 you get a discount off subscription prices equal to the current percentage that your SSA (less sales tax) price is over the current annual subscription  rate (2,810.04) - paying 41% of the subscription price if I have that sort of figured out.

https://graphisoft.com/us/buy-now

(I had no idea that the USA SSA had gone up that much ... must include sales tax, but I thought US internet sales law says that there is no sales tax unless the selling company has a brick and mortar store in your state?)

[Jp1138]

When I read it I though the upfront would be yearly - I mean, it would be the same as paying the SSA every year, but it being a susbcription... If it works the way you say, the deal it a lot worse 🤔

[thesleepofreason]

No - that is upfront for a 3-year term. Annual payments available at 10% premium....

[JaredBanks]

Thanks Karl. There's so many posts, I must have missed yours. The tax thing has to do with employees in the state as well. I don't think there's any GS employees in WA anymore, but who knows. I wouldn't be surprised if they are doing it wrong.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Well, my interpretation of the original, discounted conversion program offer for those of us on perpetual/SSA was wrong based on the updated FAQ here:

https://graphisoft.com/convert-ssa-forward-to-archicad-collaborate/faq

"SSA/Forward customers can convert to Archicad Collaborate subscriptions at the end of
their SSA/Forward term. Graphisoft guarantees price parity with SSA/Forward for the initial
subscription term and same discount percentage at the first renewal for 3-year upfront paid
subscriptions. Yearly payment options are also available for a 10% markup on the 3-year
upfront paid option"

Which says "end of SSA term" ... suggesting that with the "special offer" of subscription at current SSA pricing expiring on 12/31/2024, anybody who has already paid for their SSA renewal such that it expires after 12/31/24, cannot convert at the special rate ... and is stuck with the full SSA term plus higher pricing later on.  That has to be a mistake?  How can they not plan for and allow pro-rated conversions?  It would be insane that they require the completion of an SSA term that you paid for 2 weeks ago before you can apply your payment to a (discounted) subscription!   So, only people whose SSA will renew between now and 12/31/24 can actually get the special 3 year discount?  And the year 4-6 discount not mentioned on the FAQ page...

Beyond the mess that has been every release in recent years having minimal features and maximal bugs and compatibility issues ... the information to date is not building any confidence.  Yes, the conversion does not have to take place for a long while - but then they offer a huge discount to convert now, but with info that doesn't seem to let people take advantage of the 6 year migration pricing.  This will all be a case study in some business school one day...

[thesleepofreason]

And to make things even more messy: my SSA is with my local distributor and according to the terms it renews with 12 months December 31 if not terminated 6 months earlier - so my understanding is that to make a informed decision I need the relevant information from GS June 31 . BUT when looking at the GS account page (yet another mess) it lists licence with active SSA expiring April 30....

And yes - GS will have one case in each chapter!

[Mjules]

Taxability might be a factor of price increase after the first three years. Both SaaS and cloud computing are subject to sales and use tax in approximately twenty states in the United States. That could be my case to whom the Software Service Agreement (SSA) is governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In that state, SaaS, cloud computing, and electronically downloaded software are all taxable while the SSA is not. If I accept the conversion, my price will certainly be increased considerably after the discount period because of the sales tax and any other factors.  

[Mjules]

In addition to my bills for internet services no matter where I have to work. 

[mthd]

Hi, to all fellow users of this software. Most of us were aware of the changes coming in the near future. It’s here now so it is good for us to just accept it and move on if at all possible ? Either keep using this software if it suits your business model or change to something else if that would be better for your particular office.

It’s the old adage of monopoly and or tweaking the dollars to get more revenue or income. I am in the position of a solo practitioner so it certainly pains me to be forced into a subscription model from 2026 onwards.

This subscription only policy forces all market sharers to improve their product and in effect say “Pick me pick me”. As we know the parent company holds a few architectural software programs so that will have an effect on the future quality of the software that they hold.

It could open a hole in the market for another smart CAD/BIM solution to become perpetual only and swallow up a large market share ? Yet to be seen but anything is possible, unless this new company is bought out by the bigger one and is also forced into sub only. It’s all about Monopoly for them as it is for many other companies today.

Personally I am over it and I am not going to waste my valuable time rating and raving anymore about inevitable changes and inevitable consequences. This software is good and was once perpetual and now it’s not. So if we use it or not, or use a few of the others CAD/BIM softwares out there, we are not locked into one or the other from now on.

Let’s get back to designing great buildings with whatever software we choose to use.

Edited: If the CEO of Nemetscheck wanted to fully compete against Autodesk, they would in effect offer all their software services for either perpetual or subscription. Give the customer freedom of choice and see how much of the CAD/BIM market they can cater for. It doesn’t make sense to go just subscription only like the US market has. 

[vlahtinen]

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@mthd wrote:

This software is good

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Here, I disagree, and this is my biggest problem with the licensing change. In my opinion, Archicad is not a good piece of software, and I don't feel that we're getting value for the amount we have to pay with the subscription.

The UI is very inconsistent and not user-friendly; there are multiple bugs, and very often, the features released are half-baked and then not developed further anymore, just to name a few problems.

I'd be happy to pay the subscription price if it would give me high-quality software with new useful features every now and then. However, this is not currently the case.

[mthd]

Hi @vlahtinen, did you notice that I said “good”, good from my perspective or my opinion ? I am not a high end user by any means. It is certainly good for my business model at present while it still remains perpetual up the end of 2025. After that I will reassess my options like many others will also do.

[vlahtinen]

Hi, @mthd, yes I did. My intention was not to diminish your opinion. I'm sure that Archicad works well for some and that's great. My reply should have been a separate message and not a reply to your message in order to get my point across better. I wanted to explain why the change is bugging me and that's the value for money we're getting.

[Lee Hankins]

We’ve been on perpetual licensing for over 25 years and we’re getting really good rate due to the length of time we had been using Archicad. We were advised, and as expected, that this rate would be significantly increasing to bring us in line with the most up-to-date cost over several years of renewals. This process is still ongoing so it’s come as a bit of a shock that the perpetual is being ditched. 

Our biggest concerns are the cost increase to the business. On the face of it, it seems that the costs are going to triple to an extortionate amount (but still quite a bit cheaper than the competitor). We currently host our own BIMcloud due to not only the additional cost of BIMcloud SAAS but also an unreliable internet connection. I understand BIMcloudSAAS has clever technology to reduce bandwidth but that’s no good where there is non connection at all. At least in house we can carry on as normal. 

As many people have mentioned, the perpetual licensing model was one of the big advantages of Archicad over other more ‘popular’ packages and had the potential to draw people away from those alternatives. 

I’m a massive advocate for Archicad and will big it up to anyone who will listen but I really fear this could be very damaging.

[Andy Thomson]

During the business case modelling of these changes, I suspect Graphisoft has considered the sustainable revenue stream of this approach without considering the deleterious effect on the goodwill among the longtime user base. Many people will simply not renew, and look for lower cost solutions. One must also consider that there are emergent solutions that show great promise, some, based on legacy surface modellers, and many others that are writing new, agile code from scratch. If GS wishes to remain competitive in this context, I can only think it may be time to invest in a new product offering at a lower price point that can compete with all of these startups, otherwise it may lose many customers to them without its own competing offering. I will also add that ArchiCad is not on the computers of any Architecture school in Canada - despite my own active efforts to make this happen. When graduates emerge never having heard of ArchiCad - why would they even think to explore it? GS 'passively' maintaining an educational program without actually *actively* engaging with cash-strapped Universities to provide site-wide licenses and educational content (a boon to struggling profs) content is a huge missed opportunity towards developing the global user base it wishes to sell-to in the future - this could and should be a full-time job position at GSNA but I digress. This is what happens when the business leadership is out of touch with the market, and the way students become professionals without ever having touched or even heard of ArchiCad. I can only hope GS has a few more tricks up it’s sleeves, but after 3 decades, I'm not holding my breath.

One last thing to consider: many users have spent 5, 10, 20+ years developing content within the ArchiCad 'ecosystem', from GDL objects, to templates and workflows, etc. This user-generated content represents the proprietary intellectual property of these respective firms. When GS makes decisions about changing the relationship with its customers in these drastic ways, businesses are forced to reckon with the aspect of their IP becoming orphaned, as it may or may not readily translate to other platforms. So when GS undertakes its economic modelling, AC-based firms also need to do their own, and consider the substantial investment they have made in ArchiCad. When that investment is charged new premiums with no commensurate increase in value or productivity for the firms, hard decisions need to be made about exit strategies. I would urge Graphisoft to more carefully consider the relationship to its existing customers - since unilateral decisions like this one in particular could lead to very unpleasant consequences for both parties. 

[Mjules]

I am not going to subscribe to that just to support such annual releases: 

[Jp1138]

I don´t think they haven´t considered the user base. They must have calculated and think that the rise in income from the medium-large firms they are targeting now should be greater than the loss of all long time user base of small buissiness than won´t follow along...

[DGSketcher]

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@Akos Pfemeter wrote:

Please ask your questions and share your thoughts here -- Graphisoft's expert team will try and provide answer to all sorts of questions you may have!
Thank you.

---

48 posts and not a sign of Graphisoft's expert team... 🙄 The subscription blow back may be worse than they expected, but the lack of response to any of the technical questions makes me wonder if they even have a plan for this subscription strategy to work.

[Karl Ottenstein]

@DGSketcher  - many probably also feel as you do, but perhaps have not worked in a corporate environment (I have in another life) ... where things move quite slowly... having to coordinate a meeting time with all other managers, get the coffee made, the pastries delivered ... then talk in circles for hours only to schedule a follow-up meeting.   Rinse and repeat.

I'm sure there will be a response, but I'm not necessarily expecting it this week. 🤔

[MinhNguyen]

Agree, I’m waiting for quality answers regardless of how long it take, rather than thoughtless ones that serves nobody

[DGSketcher]

@Karl Ottenstein - I take your point, BUT the Collaborate option isn't new, it's been around for a year** and I assume Tech Support have already been dealing with the associated issues and have answers. So why drop such an important post and not have a response team ready to react immediately & stop things running out of control?

As @Bricklyne Clarence has indicated this is pretty much standard fare for Graphisoft... post & run. 

** https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Graphisoft-Insights/Start-strong-with-Archicad-Collaborate/ba-p/...

[Bricklyne Clarence]

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@DGSketcher wrote:

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48 posts and not a sign of Graphisoft's expert team... 🙄 The subscription blow back may be worse than they expected, but the lack of response to any of the technical questions makes me wonder if they even have a plan for this subscription strategy to work.

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I was wondering how long it would be before someone noticed that.

And contrary to what someone else said that this is the (slow) pace at which responses take to get delivered in these kinds of threads, I would hasten to point out that actually, this whole "post a topic and then offer to answer questions and then never show up again, or show up briefly until the responses and frustration become too much before disappearing again permantently this time" routine has become the standard method of customer relation and user interactionfrom Graphisoft folks on these boards in the post-"Letter" era after they pledged to do better in communicating with users.

You can take a look at any of the other threads that THEY started with the same premise that they were seeking feedback or looking to provide some answers and clarity only for the thread to get reduced to users talking back and forth amongst themselves and the Graphisoft person who started thread is never seen or heard from again in that thread.

The Roadmamp thread famously comes to mind. 

Any ETA on when we'll get answers on whether they'll ever implement user suggestions like a 'voting system' or more user-intaractivity, or answers to the question of the flexibility and mobility on the various items in the different parts of that Roadmap?

Several months on and we're still waiting.

It was a similar situation with a thread started by a user voicing frustration with their "pop-up" survey at the ArchiCAD launch or close session. At least in that case a GS person showed up (I guess the guy who thought it was a great idea in the first place), gave some answers that he was rightly informed were TERRIBLE answers, and then like clockwork, disappeared and was never seen from again (at least per the last time I took part in it. Admittedly it may have changed since then and they may have gotten more clarity).

And you could go on and on with other threads they start seemingly like they want to actually help or be helpful ir informative, only to disappear.

Look, I get it.

It can be tough dealing with people's (expected) frustrations and venting their complaints and anger at you.

But YOU (GS) created this situation in the first place with your lack of clarity and straightforwardness with your customers.......over several years, I might point out,.....and then plopping something like this news on us out of the blue (even though we knew it was coming), and in the wake of their less than satisfactorypast several version releases and responses with customer frustration with those.

You fostered this, so you can't act blindsided that you drop this news and you're met with a lot of anger and disappointment that leads you to not wanting to engage any further.

All it leads it is making all this just seem like yet another attempt at PR massaging and messaging in damage control to deal with the bad optics you've created rather than actually addressing serious issues and concerns and indeed very pertinent and relevant questions being raised that need answers.

People need clarity and answers that affect the decisions they're going to make in their firms and for their firms going forward - not another PR exercise in,..."let's make it look like we actually care that this is negatively impacting people but are trying to show how it's really for the benefit of all involved that we're doing this thing that we know will hurt more people than will actually help"....messaging.

We should be past that by now.

They wouldn't have started this thread if they didn't realize they had a PR headache to deal with and contain, and they certainly wouldn't have had some serious higher-up like,.... "VP Global Cross-Brand Sales"..... be the one to deliver the bad news.

Follow through and deal with the PR mess all the way through, and spare us the messaging and optics massaging and all that other stuff you all seem to excel at nowadays, at our expense and at the expense of the program and making it better,  if not less affordable.