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Only a subscription model now? [No changes announced]

jmargolese
jmargolese
Community Member
edited March 2017 in Memberships

I got a free year of 1Password families with a Parallels update offer. I didn't read the fine print and thought it was the same upgrade they had offered in the past. Now it seems Agilebits has moved completely to a subscription model so I have to pay $60/year to keep using software that I used to "own".

Is that the case? The pricing page no longer lists standalone app pricing.

This is a pretty steep price for a single function piece of software that does improve, but essentially does what it did a year ago. (The online service is new, but not at all necessary.)


1Password Version: 6.5.2
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: os x
Sync Type: dropbox

Comments

  • danco
    danco
    Volunteer Moderator

    No, the one-time licence is still available, and can be reached from the purchasing page, but the subscription model is being pushed and is at the front. See https://discussions.agilebits.com/discussion/68576/whats-the-difference-between-a-1password-subscription-and-a-standalone-license#latest for more details.

    The parallels offer is, of course, for the subscription and is actually for 1PW for FAMILIES, which has a good few advantages if more than one person wants to use it. There is also a 1PW for INDIVIDUALS, which isn't in the Parallels offer, and costs around $30 a year. That's a reasonable price considering it covers every OS (Mac, Windows, iOS, Android) and all upgrades.

    Your individual licence will continue to work for 1PW 6 for Mac, but there might be an upgrade fee when 1PW 7 comes out.

    It really remains your choice (and AgileBits have indicated that they plan to continue the one-time purchase as well as the subscription). With a bit of effort you could even use the Parallels offer for a year, and then move back to your licenced version at the end of the year rather than continuing to subscribe.

  • Hey @jmargolese! We have indeed moved to a subscription model. Don't worry too much about licenses going away though. We are absolutely going to continue supporting the standalone apps and licenses. We're offering a subscription as an an alternative for folks who prefer to organize everything in one nice place and not worry about syncing it between their devices. This has been a challenge from the start with 1Password, and we finally decided to do something about it with the concept of an account. The only thing is, accounts have to be stored somewhere, and storage in the cloud is a recurring bill. Subscriptions fit that perfectly.

    The apps, on the other hand, are the core of 1Password. They make it a unique password manager, because most others out there use browser extensions and websites primarily. We believe in having a native experience, and we don't want that to go away anytime soon. Lots of our users, too, are using 1Password because they prefer the standalone experience, not a cloud-based one. That's totally fine — to each their own. :) And you can keep using things just as you always have. Seriously. We're not planning to stop selling licenses or stop supporting that model. If something changes, we'll let you know well ahead of time.

    I hope that provides a bit of background on the decision. It wasn't easy. We had to consider what people really needed, and what we got lots of emails about. So many people had trouble with sync, no matter how we boxed it up or made it easier, that a unified experience with an account was just the best option at the end of the day. It's okay if that doesn't fit you — you have a very good idea of what you're looking for. :) Don’t let the subscription get in your way.

  • jmargolese
    jmargolese
    Community Member

    Thanks Jacob. If after a year, I want to stop paying for the account, is it possible (practical?) to move info back to individual apps? I fully get that as a software company you will thrive best with recurring revenue. It's just that $60/year (IMHO) is pretty steep for a single function. Remember, as a consumer, MANY companies are asking $50-$99/year now, so the bills add up and frankly, the services don't change a lot from year to year.

    thx for the reply.

  • @jmargolese Totally. You can move your items anywhere you'd like, whenever you'd like to move them. If your subscription expires and you decide not to pay, you can still move your data somewhere else. :)

This discussion has been closed.