Sydney23 Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 OK, well, I'm back. After 4.5 years off! But I may be off again... as I've just seen the subscription-only pricing. Wow. Doesn't work for me. At all. Sorry. I'd rather spend the next 12 months learning another software than get locked into a monthly subsciption for software that dies the minute I stop paying. Especially software that charges as much in a couple of years as it used to cost to buy it outright. It just doesn't make sense to my business model as an on /off user and I'm actually strongly against it on principle. Any ideas about likely alternatives? Are there any?! I'll obviously do a lot of Googling and download some trials, but this forum was always a huge strength of CA, so I'll keep this tab open to look for replies. I'll also drop back once in a while to see if the pricing has got more flexible. I'm pretty shocked. And sad. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Carrick Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Your X8 version should still work. If you kept the SSA each year you should be able to download the newer versions up to X14. AFAIK Chief hasn't terminated any old licensed versions. The subscription model is only for new users. At some point in the future I may decide to not upgrade and forgo SSA - depending on if I think future versions will provide additional capabilities I will use. Chief still has a lot of room to add features and improvements so I'm not there yet. ps: I'll be 83 next month so I can't say how long I will need to keep up the SSA. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekPedersen Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Andy, Thank you for the question and feedback. If you are an "on/off user" you can consider the monthly option. The monthly option can be turned on and off as needed monthly and is $229 per month. This is often a good fit for those doing occasional projects. Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Software 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M-Reed Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 On 3/17/2025 at 7:21 AM, Sydney23 said: OK, well, I'm back. After 4.5 years off! But I may be off again... as I've just seen the subscription-only pricing. Wow. Doesn't work for me. At all. Sorry. I'd rather spend the next 12 months learning another software than get locked into a monthly subsciption for software that dies the minute I stop paying. Especially software that charges as much in a couple of years as it used to cost to buy it outright. It just doesn't make sense to my business model as an on /off user and I'm actually strongly against it on principle. Any ideas about likely alternatives? Are there any?! I'll obviously do a lot of Googling and download some trials, but this forum was always a huge strength of CA, so I'll keep this tab open to look for replies. I'll also drop back once in a while to see if the pricing has got more flexible. I'm pretty shocked. And sad. I am not a big fan of the subscription model used by many software vendors of late. I will say Its nice to have the option to turn it off when not needed for those of us working part time but I have come to use the software in many ways which requires I keep a copy active. Most of the competition use subscription models now so there really isn't another option where the user can actually purchase the software any more. That said, I have watched the progress of the Home Pro Software over the years and have used it on various design / con doc jobs. For $595 initially and a $119 upgrade cost per year, I am just about to the point where it will serve my needs at a very considerable cost difference as compared to $229 per month ($2748.00 yr) I have adapted many routines to make it work just fine for standard con docs. Just a thought.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie65 Posted Saturday at 07:08 PM Share Posted Saturday at 07:08 PM M-Reed, I have a couple of HD licenses I would like to sell. I bought them for people who were going to work with me, then they decided it wasn't what they wanted to do. I have a Pro 2021 and Suite 2022 license key I would sell for much less than buying it new. PM if interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renerabbitt Posted Saturday at 09:44 PM Share Posted Saturday at 09:44 PM Having built assets myself, I understand the challenges of a development cycle—especially when users expect to be wowed by new features, but there's no guarantee of sales. You’re often left guessing how much you can justify spending on development hours. That’s why I really believe people need to try running this kind of business themselves to fully grasp why the subscription model isn’t just ethical—it’s essential. It allows a brand to sustain itself, especially during economic downturns, while still focusing on improving the core product. At the end of the day, they’re just trying to figure out how much value they can consistently deliver to keep customers happy and the business viable. I struggle every year hoping that my sales can sustain the amount of hours I put into development. It's tough to make everyone happy and still maintain a business Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHCanada2 Posted 19 hours ago Share Posted 19 hours ago At some point the O/S or other drivers will no longer work with software. Software companies have to then adapt and test their software with the next O/S/card drivers in perpetuity. In my view, non subscription software has a niche, and that is where something is built that needs no improvements, only future O/S support. The PDF editor I have is in this category. All I need to do is edit the occasional text in a PDF. Do I need to pay adobe $311/yr for that? No, so I will pay a one time fee to others(currently around $75), and when I need to upgrade to the the O/S that breaks it, I will pay another $75. So my annual cost is $15/yr or 5% the cost of Acrobat. A lot of these companies that have these types on non subscription software have multiple pieces of software. So what they do, is have them in "maintenance" mode, where they will make enough money selling a few here and there, and then get a bump when the O/S no longer supports it, or some standard changes, and they make some money off paid support and ads on their websites. But CA is not a simple product, and as far as I can see is in a fast moving market. This means they need to add features every year to keep up with the competition plus all the backlog of requests. And because of the complexity they need a support organization behind it. Perpetual models also work for companies that have a large market to go after, but even they need to plan for what happens once that market saturates. Perhaps that is the way it was when CA started, but is no longer the case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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