Dear Chief Architect Team,
I am writing as a long-time customer who has used Chief Architect products continuously since 2014. Over more than a decade, I have invested not only money, but also significant time learning your software, building workflows, and recommending it to others.
Unfortunately, the recent move away from a purchase-to-own upgrade model to a subscription-only model is a hard no for me.
I want to be very clear: I will not subscribe.This decision is not impulsive, nor is it based on price alone. It is rooted in a fundamental disagreement with subscription-only licensing for professional software, especially when it replaces an ownership model that customers relied on for years.
Here are the core reasons many consumers, myself included strongly reject subscriptions:
• Loss of ownership Customers no longer own the tools they paid to learn and depend on. Access becomes conditional, not guaranteed.
• Forced recurring costs Subscriptions shift financial risk entirely onto the user, often resulting in higher long-term costs for the same functionality.
• Price escalation and “upgrade inflation” Subscription pricing almost always increases over time, with no meaningful increase in value to justify it.
• Vendor lock-in Users are effectively strong-armed into continued payment to maintain access to their own work and files.
• Punishing loyalty Long-term customers who supported the product for years are given fewer choices, not more.
• Erosion of trust When a company removes purchase options entirely, it signals that customer preference is no longer a priority.
In today’s market especially in the rapidly evolving world of AI-assisted design, this approach is one of the fastest ways to lose customer goodwill. Consumers increasingly want transparency, flexibility, and respect for choice. Subscription-only models deliver the opposite.
To be clear, my refusal to subscribe does not come from a lack of alternatives. There are many competitive architectural and home-design platforms available today. I would rather invest my time learning a new tool than reinvest further in a product that eliminates ownership and replaces it with mandatory recurring fees.That is a disappointing conclusion to reach after more than a decade of loyalty.
I want to emphasize how genuinely disappointed I am in this direction for Chief Architect Home Designer Architectural. Clearly myself and many other long time users valued the ability to purchase upgrades outright, own the version we paid for, and choose when and if an upgrade made sense for our work. That flexibility was part of what made your product worth investing in.
Unless a purchase-to-own upgrade option returns, my long-standing relationship with this software ends here.
I hope you take this feedback seriously, please realize I am far from the only customer who feels this way.
Sincerely,
Kj
Dear Chief Architect Team, I am writing as a long-time customer who has used Chief Architect products continuously since 2014. Over more than a decade, I have invested not only money, but also significant time learning your software, building workflows, and recommending it to others. Unfortunately, the recent move away from a purchase-to-own upgrade model to a subscription-only model is a hard no for me. I want to be very clear: I will not subscribe.This decision is not impulsive, nor is it based on price alone. It is rooted in a fundamental disagreement with subscription-only licensing for professional software, especially when it replaces an ownership model that customers relied on for years. Here are the core reasons many consumers, myself included strongly reject subscriptions: • Loss of ownership Customers no longer own the tools they paid to learn and depend on. Access becomes conditional, not guaranteed. • Forced recurring costs Subscriptions shift financial risk entirely onto the user, often resulting in higher long-term costs for the same functionality. • Price escalation and “upgrade inflation” Subscription pricing almost always increases over time, with no meaningful increase in value to justify it. • Vendor lock-in Users are effectively strong-armed into continued payment to maintain access to their own work and files. • Punishing loyalty Long-term customers who supported the product for years are given fewer choices, not more. • Erosion of trust When a company removes purchase options entirely, it signals that customer preference is no longer a priority. In today’s market especially in the rapidly evolving world of AI-assisted design, this approach is one of the fastest ways to lose customer goodwill. Consumers increasingly want transparency, flexibility, and respect for choice. Subscription-only models deliver the opposite. To be clear, my refusal to subscribe does not come from a lack of alternatives. There are many competitive architectural and home-design platforms available today. I would rather invest my time learning a new tool than reinvest further in a product that eliminates ownership and replaces it with mandatory recurring fees.That is a disappointing conclusion to reach after more than a decade of loyalty. I want to emphasize how genuinely disappointed I am in this direction for Chief Architect Home Designer Architectural. Clearly myself and many other long time users valued the ability to purchase upgrades outright, own the version we paid for, and choose when and if an upgrade made sense for our work. That flexibility was part of what made your product worth investing in. Unless a purchase-to-own upgrade option returns, my long-standing relationship with this software ends here. I hope you take this feedback seriously, please realize I am far from the only customer who feels this way. Sincerely, Kj