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A typical move to subscription based pricing LOWERS costs to the consumer, but the company gets the benefit of more predictable recurring revenues. That makes t

by stoshe 11y ago

A typical move to subscription based pricing LOWERS costs to the consumer, but the company gets the benefit of more predictable recurring revenues. That makes the pricing JetBrains puts out a little bit of a head-scratcher.

acveilleux 11y ago
Starting from zero, their pricing is lower over a set number of year. They got rid of the initial "hump" and in turn made the annual amount higher. I didn't look too closely but I guess the cost evens out over a 3-4 year subscription span. For a business this is actually going to simplify accounting I would think. It's no longer a cap-ex with a maintenance fee, it's just rental so all pre-tax. My guess is that overall their spreadsheeting makes this even out based on how customers have been paying. The fringe bits (loss of permanence, ability to install a home copy) will disproportionately hurt solo/small business folks and hobbyists. The very people that have been their champion getting their software into enterprise dev teams. I don't understand why they don't go to the rental model with optional one-time permanent license add-on. So like hypothetically 100$/year rental and a 100$ supplement for permanent license. Basically option into the current deal. They can even make the sum total greater then it used to be. Like 120$/year rental + 100$ permanent license supplement.
- Oletros 11y ago
  > Starting from zero, their pricing is lower over a set number of year. Starting from zero the prices are the same or higher. The worst offender, Webstorm, from 49€ first year and 29€ next years to 99€/year from the start PyCharm is 40€/year more expensive from the second year
hinkley 11y ago
What typical ones are you thinking about? And are you American? Americans are bad at math. Companies selling to us know this and it's common for them to offer a monthly contract for a device with an expected life of three years as price/24 if they're feeling generous, and price/18 if they aren't. I think the worst one I ever saw was price/14, and people still bought it. TiVo has prices closer to the worse end of that spectrum, drove me nuts.
- nitrogen 11y ago
  I suspect your comment would get fewer downvotes and still be useful if you dropped the jab at the parent commenter's math abilities.
  - hinkley 11y ago
    It wasn't meant as jab at his math skills, but our math skills. Companies offer predatory monthly rates and we gobble it up, much to my dismay. Edit: my ISP, for instance, will happily charge me $7 a month for an $80 router that I won't upgrade for 3-5 years. Who does that?
    - balabaster 11y ago
      > Who does that? A company that knows that people will blindly say "Hey, if I only have to fork over $7 a month instead of finding $80 plus tax, plus gas, plus the inconvenience of going and finding a router myself, and configuring it so that my network works, seems like a good deal" and they purchase the rental - even though $420 for an $80 (plus tax and inconvenience) router is a terrible deal. Then you get the types that have a box full of routers at home or know that if they purchase for $80, then in a year, it's paid for itself and everything else is gravy.

by stoshe 11y ago

acveilleux 11y ago

Starting from zero, their pricing is lower over a set number of year. They got rid of the initial "hump" and in turn made the annual amount higher. I didn't look too closely but I guess the cost evens out over a 3-4 year subscription span. For a business this is actually going to simplify accounting I would think. It's no longer a cap-ex with a maintenance fee, it's just rental so all pre-tax. My guess is that overall their spreadsheeting makes this even out based on how customers have been paying. The fringe bits (loss of permanence, ability to install a home copy) will disproportionately hurt solo/small business folks and hobbyists. The very people that have been their champion getting their software into enterprise dev teams. I don't understand why they don't go to the rental model with optional one-time permanent license add-on. So like hypothetically 100$/year rental and a 100$ supplement for permanent license. Basically option into the current deal. They can even make the sum total greater then it used to be. Like 120$/year rental + 100$ permanent license supplement.

Oletros 11y ago
> Starting from zero, their pricing is lower over a set number of year. Starting from zero the prices are the same or higher. The worst offender, Webstorm, from 49€ first year and 29€ next years to 99€/year from the start PyCharm is 40€/year more expensive from the second year

hinkley 11y ago

What typical ones are you thinking about? And are you American? Americans are bad at math. Companies selling to us know this and it's common for them to offer a monthly contract for a device with an expected life of three years as price/24 if they're feeling generous, and price/18 if they aren't. I think the worst one I ever saw was price/14, and people still bought it. TiVo has prices closer to the worse end of that spectrum, drove me nuts.

nitrogen 11y ago
I suspect your comment would get fewer downvotes and still be useful if you dropped the jab at the parent commenter's math abilities.
- hinkley 11y ago
  It wasn't meant as jab at his math skills, but our math skills. Companies offer predatory monthly rates and we gobble it up, much to my dismay. Edit: my ISP, for instance, will happily charge me $7 a month for an $80 router that I won't upgrade for 3-5 years. Who does that?
  - balabaster 11y ago
    > Who does that? A company that knows that people will blindly say "Hey, if I only have to fork over $7 a month instead of finding $80 plus tax, plus gas, plus the inconvenience of going and finding a router myself, and configuring it so that my network works, seems like a good deal" and they purchase the rental - even though $420 for an $80 (plus tax and inconvenience) router is a terrible deal. Then you get the types that have a box full of routers at home or know that if they purchase for $80, then in a year, it's paid for itself and everything else is gravy.