Upgrade Pricing Policy

[Fenster]

Hey Guys, I couldnt seem to find an answer on this....what is the upgrade pricing policy? I see the current price of the software is $39 and I am very interested, however it appears 1.6 is right around the corner. ARe upgrades free of charge or are they available at a discounted rate? I purchased lightroom outright and still unsure if that was the right move as opposed to paying monthly.

 

Thanks!

[Callum]

Hi Fenster, 

 

Welcome to the Forums :)

 

Upgrades are free up until the next full version of the app for example from 1.9 to 2.0 (Note this doesn't mean you will have to pay after the 1.9 update there could be many more updates before version 2.0) You then have the choice to pay again for future updates or keep the version you have :) In terms of the actual price for this upgrade we don't have anything set in stone yet.

 

 As for a time frame for when you may be expected to upgrade bear in mind Affinity Designer has now been out on Mac since 2014 and we haven't charged for any updates yet so it could be a fair while :)

 

Thanks

C

[anon1]

-

[Callum]

Would not the inverse be true?

The longer the app has been on the market, the more likely a new paid update

It was a demonstration of how long you could have to wait for a paid update,  Fenster asked about our pricing policy not Designer specifically   :)

[Alfred]

how long you could have to wait for a paid update

 

In all the years I've been a Serif customer, I've only ever had to pay for upgrades (i.e. new major versions like 2.0). Updates (i.e. point releases like 1.6) have always been free. :)

 

It will be interesting to see whether Serif decides to follow the example of The Omni Group so that they can offer upgrade pricing to existing customers. :unsure:

[Patrick Connor]

Would not the inverse be true?

 ʇ,upןnoʍ ʇı ǝdou  :P

 

It will be interesting to see whether Serif decides to follow the example of The Omni Group so that they can offer upgrade pricing to existing customers. :unsure:

At our prices ???? geez.

[000]

 ʇ,upןnoʍ ʇı ǝdou  :P

 

At our prices ???? geez.

Exactly … if the price stays as it is, I'm more than happy paying full price every couple of years for a new version (or simply stay at the current version, if I'm happy with what it does and don't want any awesome new features) :)

[Scungio]

Yeah, I really don't get how people are on the fence when it comes to buying Affinity Photo and/or Designer. Or how they could possibly be against paying full price for the next version of each app.

 

This is just my example of paying for Illustrator and the Photoshop/Lightroom plans. The Illustrator single app plan that I have costs me $21.19 a month. The Photoshop/Lightroom plan costs $10.69 a month. So, I pay $31.88 a month here in the USA, and that comes out to $382.56 a year.

 

Over 10 years that would be $3,825.60. 

 

Now, I took advantage of the introductory pricing that Serif offered on Designer, on Photo, on Photo for iPad, and as soon as Designer for iPad is available I will buy that too.

 

I paid $40 for Designer, $40 for Photo and $20 for Photo [iPad]. Say Designer [iPad] has introductory pricing of $20 too. That is $120.

 

Hypothetically say Serif has a new version for each of those apps once every 3 years and I upgrade to each app at the full price. I am looking at less than $450 for 10 years, compared to $3,825 for Adobe's apps over 10 years. And with Adobe I am probably never going to have an Illustrator that works on my iPad, never going to have a Photoshop that works on my iPad.

 

I am one of those Adobe users that has had problems with the Creative Cloud. I have had 3 different occasions where I couldn't start any of the apps and had to deal with the pain of getting it all to work again. Sometimes that took days. I even had an issue one time where Creative Cloud was interfering with my Backblaze backup cloud service, actually erasing files. CC can be great when it works, but can be a frustrating, maddening experience when it doesn't.

 

Anyway, back to the savings, $450 for Affinity, $3,800 for Adobe. If I can dump Adobe I pocket almost $3,400 over the course of 10 years. Even if I had to buy each Affinity app yearly, at full price, that still comes out to a savings of $2,200 over the course of 10 years compared to Adobe.

 

So, when I see people on the 'fence', hemming and hawing over deciding to buy Photo, or Designer, or the iPad versions, I just shake my head in disbelief!!

[tanujboy]

The Pricing module of Serif is very attractive in my opinion. Although, I didn't know you have to pay for upgrades, I think that it's totally fair. You see, Serif is a company and just like every other company, it also has its expenses and we all know that software development isn't cheap either. If I have to pay a few bucks in like 3 - 4 years, I think it's reasonable.

[Fenster]

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. I do think $39 cost seems very reasonable for software that seems to be very capable. The reason I hesitate is 1) If another version is right around the corner and would require a new license, I would likely wait to gain the new features. 2)  I purchased lightroom 6 outright, however I found that Adobe has provided updates to CC users but not standalone users. These are updates to the same version...just not available on the standalone version. When lightroom 7 comes out, I might be forced to purchase a CC license which would come with photoshop..... that makes me pause to see if the money is well spent on Affinity.

 

At this point, I think I am going to pull the trigger on Affinity because watching the training videos has me hooked. Currently using Gimp to do major edits after lightroom is kind of difficult, and Affinity looks like it will really help me.

[tanujboy]

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. I do think $39 cost seems very reasonable for software that seems to be very capable. The reason I hesitate is 1) If another version is right around the corner and would require a new license, I would likely wait to gain the new features. 2) I purchased lightroom 6 outright, however I found that Adobe has provided updates to CC users but not standalone users. These are updates to the same version...just not available on the standalone version. When lightroom 7 comes out, I might be forced to purchase a CC license which would come with photoshop..... that makes me pause to see if the money is well spent on Affinity.

 

At this point, I think I am going to pull the trigger on Affinity because watching the training videos has me hooked. Currently using Gimp to do major edits after lightroom is kind of difficult, and Affinity looks like it will really help me.

Both the Photo and the Designer are on version 1.5.x and as said above, users will only have to pay for upgrades i.e. next you have to pay for v2.0. I don't think that v2.0 would come out so fast. I think it'll take at least 2 years. However, this is just my speculation.

[marianovon]

In the case of this company and it's products we have the unique situation where the perpetual license costs far, far less that subscription from Adobe (I normally calculate a three year timespan for ROI, but here it's not even a few months!) of course not the former perpetual license from them and not even any update. They are so far below the prices of Adobe which makes it impossible to do sane comparisons! Buy it. Then buy it again when the next version comes out (or not, if the current one is good enough for you). End of story.

[DeusNightFire]

Will there be a discount when owning the 1.X version to 2.0 update? That would be great for the current users when the wanna update, but have little money

[Emfiliane]

On 6/15/2019 at 9:31 AM, DeusNightFire said:

Will there be a discount when owning the 1.X version to 2.0 update? That would be great for the current users when the wanna update, but have little money

Why are you asking about the pricing of a hypothetical version that isn't on the roadmap and may never even be released?

[Lelopes]

Please do not shame our friend's question. It is a very valid point. I want to buy affinity, but it seems pretty close to a new major version and i don't want to pay while i 'am note sure i won't end up paying 1.5x the full price to get it. (50% off in their current promotion + 100% in a 6 - 9 months new release). Specially with the current economicovids.

[Fixx]

It is possible that Serif will skip version 1.9 and release v 2.0 soon. But I think it is more probable v 2.0 will not come out this year. This is pure guesswork though. Also, there really is no real indication of pricing. Current app stores though do not support special upgrade prices. So far Serif has sold new versions at reduced price for all for a limited time after release. This may continue or not. Also, it is possible that price will change – maybe version 2.0 will be so much better they charge double price. Anybody's guess.

[ashf]

Seriously Serif should charge discounted upgrade fee for each 0.1 upgrade.
Former Plus series had such upgrade policy and it has been healthy and sustainable.

I don't think current policy is healthy, it rather make me concerned sustainability.


 

[Old Bruce]

There is no requirement to upgrade to a new version. I do understand your trepidation but stop and think about using the software as it is now for 50% of the cost and then at some point perhaps paying for it again when it is updated. You can wait until it has enough new features before upgrading. I frequently skip versions of other software I own and use daily. I have also abandoned software I used on a daily basis because the upgrade wasn't good enough for the price asked even though I would need to upgrade because of a change in the Operating System.

[Fcunhaster]

On 6/15/2017 at 9:42 AM, Callum said:

Hi Fenster, 

 

Welcome to the Forums

 

Upgrades are free up until the next full version of the app for example from 1.9 to 2.0 (Note this doesn't mean you will have to pay after the 1.9 update there could be many more updates before version 2.0) You then have the choice to pay again for future updates or keep the version you have In terms of the actual price for this upgrade we don't have anything set in stone yet.

 

 As for a time frame for when you may be expected to upgrade bear in mind Affinity Designer has now been out on Mac since 2014 and we haven't charged for any updates yet so it could be a fair while

 

Thanks

C

Callum, it's not that I wasn't seeing it coming, but for previous users there should be a substancial price reduction than it's being announced today. Evn at 40% off th eprice for each single App is DOUBLE what I payed for the original Apps in 2019 at full price. I purchased via Microsoft Store and they're not even showing yet, not in a definitive way. The Microsoft App Store is not highlighting the release as you claim on Twitter and what appears on it's search is dubious, might be too soon and they sort it out soon, but word on it would be nice. I have all three of them, they're logged into my Affinity Account, yet there's no record of my purchase or License info, just the receipt on Microsoft Store. So where do I go from here?

[Fcunhaster]

On 6/15/2017 at 3:27 PM, Scungio said:

Yeah, I really don't get how people are on the fence when it comes to buying Affinity Photo and/or Designer. Or how they could possibly be against paying full price for the next version of each app.

 

This is just my example of paying for Illustrator and the Photoshop/Lightroom plans. The Illustrator single app plan that I have costs me $21.19 a month. The Photoshop/Lightroom plan costs $10.69 a month. So, I pay $31.88 a month here in the USA, and that comes out to $382.56 a year.

 

Over 10 years that would be $3,825.60. 

 

Now, I took advantage of the introductory pricing that Serif offered on Designer, on Photo, on Photo for iPad, and as soon as Designer for iPad is available I will buy that too.

 

I paid $40 for Designer, $40 for Photo and $20 for Photo [iPad]. Say Designer [iPad] has introductory pricing of $20 too. That is $120.

 

Hypothetically say Serif has a new version for each of those apps once every 3 years and I upgrade to each app at the full price. I am looking at less than $450 for 10 years, compared to $3,825 for Adobe's apps over 10 years. And with Adobe I am probably never going to have an Illustrator that works on my iPad, never going to have a Photoshop that works on my iPad.

 

I am one of those Adobe users that has had problems with the Creative Cloud. I have had 3 different occasions where I couldn't start any of the apps and had to deal with the pain of getting it all to work again. Sometimes that took days. I even had an issue one time where Creative Cloud was interfering with my Backblaze backup cloud service, actually erasing files. CC can be great when it works, but can be a frustrating, maddening experience when it doesn't.

 

Anyway, back to the savings, $450 for Affinity, $3,800 for Adobe. If I can dump Adobe I pocket almost $3,400 over the course of 10 years. Even if I had to buy each Affinity app yearly, at full price, that still comes out to a savings of $2,200 over the course of 10 years compared to Adobe.

 

So, when I see people on the 'fence', hemming and hawing over deciding to buy Photo, or Designer, or the iPad versions, I just shake my head in disbelief!!

I get what you're saying. But on this case the new version Price is overly exaggerated and there's absolutely no Upgrade fee for who already owns the full Suite, even if bought as independent Apps they are networked and work together under my Affinity Account.

[walt.farrell]

10 minutes ago, Fcunhaster said:

Evn at 40% off th eprice for each single App is DOUBLE what I payed for the original Apps in 2019 at full price.

Really? List price for V1 (single app) was probably (in the US) $54.99 in 2019, and list price for V2 right now is $69.99. The 40% off price is $40.99, which is certainly below the 2019 list price. And the Universal price is currently (with discount) $99.99. 

[Fcunhaster]

3 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Really? List price for V1 (single app) was probably (in the US) $54.99 in 2019, and list price for V2 right now is $69.99. The 40% off price is $40.99, which is certainly below the 2019 list price. And the Universal price is currently (with discount) $99.99. 

I'm in Europe, so really lol V2's Cover Price is now € 89,99 for each single App, without the 40% Discount. What actualy pays off is getting the whole 3 of them DIRECTLY from Affinity's Store that covers all Apps for all OSs

[walt.farrell]

1 minute ago, Fcunhaster said:

I'm in Europe, so really lol

What were your actual numbers in 2019 (full price) and now at 40% off?

[Fcunhaster]

4 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

What were your actual numbers in 2019 (full price) and now at 40% off?

 

4 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

What were your actual numbers in 2019 (full price) and now at 40% off?

Cover Price is now € 89,99 for each single App, without the 40% Discount, € 48,99 WITH the discount, which is temporary, for each single App. What actualy pays off is getting the whole 3 of them DIRECTLY from Affinity's Store that covers all Apps for all OSs

[walt.farrell]

2 minutes ago, Fcunhaster said:

Cover Price is now € 89,99 for each single App,

Do you have the 2019 price, too?