Disgusting pricing

[Maksimus]

11 minutes ago, _Th said:

Yes. Yes we do. More free stuff now! 😜

 

Well, to defeat Adobe - this is unlikely to succeed.  Too different weight categories.  

But to give them a substantial alternative, to make a better product at a lower price and force Adobe to rethink its pricing policy (make one-time licenses again) - this is what Serif can probably do. 

[Artsketch]

It depends on how long Affinity Photo V2 will be usable. I can get the Photoshop & Lightroom subscription with 20 GB cloud storage for under €80 per year for the last few years. Compared to that, Affinity Photo still lacks many important features. The big V2 cash flow can either result in higher productivity or laziness. 

[Maksimus]

9 minutes ago, Artsketch said:

It depends on how long Affinity Photo V2 will be usable. I can get the Photoshop & Lightroom subscription with 20 GB cloud storage for under €80 per year for the last few years. Compared to that, Affinity Photo still lacks many important features. The big V2 cash flow can either result in higher productivity or laziness. 

Google gives by default 40 GB of storage on Google Drive for free. Why should I still pay Adobe for this?

I also bought the Affinity Suite (all three programs) a couple of years ago for around $100 off. And he didn't pay anything for two years. It's $50 a year. And someone did not pay for updates for 3-5 years.

So €80 every year for a couple of programs is expensive. Over time, it will become more and more expensive. And as soon as you do not pay, then you will be left without these programs. Bad deal.

[Twolane]

Yeah, no. People are throwing around a lot of Adobe pricing numbers, it would seem. Every time I go to Adobe's site for a look see, the pricing is at variance to the prices quoted in here, so there's that.

[Artsketch]

3 minutes ago, Twolane said:

the pricing is at variance to the prices quoted in here

You have to know where an when to buy. Not from Adobe.

[Twolane]

23 minutes ago, Artsketch said:

You have to know where an when to buy. Not from Adobe.

Ah. Of course.

[_Th]

55 minutes ago, Maksimus said:

Well, to defeat Adobe - this is unlikely to succeed.  Too different weight categories.  

You're right, it's David vs. Goliath to be sure. (Then again, that battle didn't turn out as most would have expected.) Back in the day, the thought that anything could replace Quark XPress was laughable. And yet, almost overnight... So, hope springs eternal. With Adobe's absurd pricing model, I for one am extremely glad to have this "substantial alternative" and no longer be held hostage to monthly rental fees.

[thomasp]

17 hours ago, Maksimus said:

Now it remains to understand why you write all this and are indignant here ...

 

As a response to the comment I quoted about a 'modest' increase. How is that modest again, to charge so much more for practically the same thing but now call it V2? Because ... Inflation?

 

14 hours ago, Twolane said:

I just went to Serif through a Belgian server. Here's what I got, and it includes VAT:

Affinity V2 Universal License

For macOS, Windows & iPadOS

Was€199.99Now

€119.99

ONE-OFF PAYMENT | incl. VAT

Get Version 2 of Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher on all operating systems, including iPad, for one low bundle price.

@ thomasp - If you don't buy before December 14, it would appear as though you'll pay 199.99 Euros. And that price doesn't mention VAT, so there's all that.

 

Oh I'm aware of the discount, no worries. However as it stands it's a discount for something that looks like no significant improvement to what I already use.

[PaulEC]

One problem when talking about an increase in price is what you are actually comparing. For example, if you compare what you paid for something in a sale, several years ago, with the full price now, the difference will (obviously) be much greater than if you compare the full price then with the full price now!

Also, I am struggling to think of anything that isn't more expensive now than it was a few years ago! A lot has changed in the last five years (since 2018)!

 

 

[Pyanepsion]

On 12/3/2022 at 4:15 AM, thomasp said:

Doesn't sound like a particularly modest increase to me.

Hello, @thomasp. The launch offer is actually cheaper than the price of the old version.

But, if the new version does not bring you anything, you are not obliged to pay to continue using the old product you bought. That’s why I never rent software anymore (why should one always buy the new version of a product?)

Having said that, I believe that in order to take advantage of the many new features of version 2, you should not consider version 2 as a simple improvement of version 1, but as a new product (it is much more powerful and faster) that you should consider as such and it is necessary to go through training again.

[Medical Officer Bones]

2 hours ago, PaulEC said:

Also, I am struggling to think of anything that isn't more expensive now than it was a few years ago! A lot has changed in the last five years (since 2018)!

Krita, Blender, Gimp, OpenToonz, Visual Studio Code, Inkscape, Godot, Scribus, LibreOffice, VLC Player, Linux...

All offer more now than a few years ago and did not increase their pricing!

🙂 I see a pattern.

[JohnDK]

8 hours ago, thomasp said:

However as it stands it's a discount for something that looks like no significant improvement to what I already use

 

5 hours ago, Pyanepsion said:

if the new version does not bring you anything, you are not obliged to pay to continue using the old product you bought.

This x 100

[Maksimus]

10 hours ago, thomasp said:

Oh I'm aware of the discount, no worries. However as it stands it's a discount for something that looks like no significant improvement to what I already use.

I understand you. You like Version 1 for now and that's enough for you. Then there is no problem. Just use Version 1 of the Affinity apps.

When you are ready to switch to Version 2, then you know how much it costs now. And it doesn't matter what you think about the number of innovations.

The seller has set the price and you either buy and agree or disagree and don't buy. Everything else is air shaking. 

[AdamStanislav]

7 hours ago, Medical Officer Bones said:

Krita, Blender, Gimp, OpenToonz, Visual Studio Code, Inkscape, Godot, Scribus, LibreOffice, VLC Player, Linux...

But their prices tripled, some even quadrupled in just the most recent two months! 😜

[luki1412]

4 hours ago, AdamStanislav said:

But their prices tripled, some even quadrupled in just the most recent two months! 😜

Most of these are still free. What are you talking about ?

Look at Clip Studio Paint Pro - similar pricing to Affinity products. They also have V2 coming at the start of the next year. Guess what, no price increase.

Edited December 4, 2022 by luki1412

[debraspicher]

37 minutes ago, luki1412 said:

Most of the are still free. What are you talking about ?

Look at Clip Studio Paint Pro - similar pricing to Affinity products. They also have V2 coming at the start of the next year. Guess what, no price increase.

That's not true. Celsys is charging $10/yr for updates for the non-EX version. Same price, but we must pay for updates now or wait until the next version. V3 is already more or less announced a year or so after V2. I forget the exact timeline. Regardless, Affinity includes free updates and likely for years to come if it follows suit with V1. I don't anticipate 7 years though now that they have the complete suite.

(Edit) Added product timeline

[Old Bruce]

26 minutes ago, luki1412 said:

Most of the are still free. What are you talking about ?

 

Free times 3 = Free. Where Free = zero dollars/euros/pounds/rupees

[Designer1234]

Honestly - I also don't understand their generosity with universal licenses - unlimited number of devices, iPads, Windows PCs and Macs, all apps... OK - one reason I can think of is marketing: making people more interested with all Affinity Suite apps... and I have no doubt that consumers will like it, but that doesn't fit the narrative of the global crisis and the need to raise prices because of inflation.

Still I don't like that whining about the prices. Especially AP is still very attractive considering price/performance ratio.

[luki1412]

The entire point of this thread is to voice my opinion about their pricing. No one is forcing you to post here. Ive already said Im not buying V2 in its current state, despite the fact that half of you have the need to repeat that to me and others.

They increased it silently, no reasoning behind it and you all just took it without issues. Good thing they have sheep like you that follow without question. Maybe next version they can ask for double again.

The point of version releases is that they can be funded for the development. They do the work, we buy the version. If their dev costs increased because of things out of their control, why not mention it? Why hide it? Especially when you don't know what you're getting with V2 up to V2.9. None of the updates could be the things you wanted. You have to wait to find out or blindly buy in hopes they add what you hoped they would.

"It has so many features now the price should increase" Each version gets its own funding. Doesn't matter how many features it has. Because they got funding for all of it. People who bought V1, funded its development. Once done, V2 started being worked on, so people who buy V2 will fund development of the V2 but they also get the bonus of having the features from V1, that has already been funded.

[myclay]

9 minutes ago, luki1412 said:

Good thing they have sheep like you that follow without question.

I think you have reached a remarkable new level of toxicity.

[LondonSquirrel]

6 minutes ago, luki1412 said:

They increased it silently, no reasoning behind it and you all just took it without issues.

If you have bought anything, and I mean anything, over the last two years you will have seen that prices have gone up. There is not a single thing which I buy regularly today, whether it is cat food, Mars bars, shirts, or electricity which has not gone up in price. There is no sticker on a Mars bar telling why the price has gone up (nor why the size has gone down). Other factors include inflation, and currency devaluation which leads to higher cost of all imports.

9 minutes ago, luki1412 said:

you don't know what you're getting with V2 up to V2.9. None of the updates could be the things you wanted.

This has been mentioned many times in the forum. The standard answer is to buy the software for what it has now, not for what it might have in the future. You have indeed mentioned that you are not buying V2 as it is now. So you do implicitly understand that point.

[walt.farrell]

11 minutes ago, luki1412 said:

They increased it silently, no reasoning behind it and you all just took it without issues.

Do you demand reasons every time something you buy becomes more expensive? Your food is probably more expensive now than it was a year ago. Do you demand all the producers of the food justify their increases to you? Or do you simply pay the new price?

And what about the manufacturers who do not increase the price, but simply charge the same price but decrease the size of the container and the amount it holds? Do you deman they justify it?

[luki1412]

22 minutes ago, debraspicher said:

That's not true. Celsys is charging $10/yr for updates for the non-EX version. Same price, but we must pay for updates now or wait until the next version. V3 is already more or less announced a year or so after V2. I forget the exact timeline. Regardless, Affinity includes free updates and likely for years to come if it follows suit with V1. I don't anticipate 7 years though now that they have the complete suite.

(Edit) Added product timeline

Yeah you buy a finished version 2.0 and can opt in to get updates early for 10$. You get a discount if you own the previous version. The price is unchanged. Its just early access to updates that they offer now for 10$.

 

If I purchased Ver. 1 after January 1, 2022 do I get the one-time purchase license for Ver. 2.0 or is that the Update Pass?

It is the one-time purchase license of Ver. 2.0. If you then buy an Update Pass you can get early access to features coming to the app from Ver. 2.1 and beyond for 12 months.

 

They also provide long term support:

 

You said you will continue to provide stability updates to Ver. 1. How long will you provide them?

Future considerations will be made in light of hardware, OS, and how devices running Clip Studio Paint continue to change.

[luki1412]

6 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Do you demand reasons every time something you buy becomes more expensive? Your food is probably more expensive now than it was a year ago. Do you demand all the producers of the food justify their increases to you? Or do you simply pay the new price?

And what about the manufacturers who do not increase the price, but simply charge the same price but decrease the size of the container and the amount it holds? Do you deman they justify it?

No but it doesnt hurt to ask does it? If you never ask you never get an answer.

[Medical Officer Bones]

1 hour ago, luki1412 said:

Most of the are still free. What are you talking about ?