Subscription/Perpetual Lic Question

[rchambrz]

It's time for me to renew my perpetual lic. I trying to understand why anyone would give up their lic. for a sub. You get a deal for 2 years ($99) and then you will pay $360.00 per year (if the price does not increase by then). Instead of $198.00 for a perpetual lic. Am I missing something here?

[Ben Jenssen]

What you would be renewing is the "support and update plan" that essentially allows you to get updates. If you let it expire (like I have) , it simply means you don't have access to updates. Your license will last forever, but you're stuck on your current version.

I think I'll be fine with my current version for a year or two, then I'll have to consider subscription, which is going to be the only way forward. They want us to go subscription.

Also note that if you should decide to go to subscription now, you would be surrendering your perpetual license, and not have the option to use older versions.

[Obsidian Dragon]

You are right. For a coninuous user of Protools, the perpetual+support model is more cost effective in the long term. However for the occasional user that only need Protools for a month or a few months at a time, the subscription model allows them to stop paying if they do not need to use it for a while and reactivate a subscription again when they need to. Those on a perpetual+support must pay annually to stay on that model or let it lapse and be locked into that version---forever! There was a reinstatement option for a fee but that has been discontinued. Basically, if a lapsed perpetual users wants back in to get an upgraded version, they need to buy a new license ($599) or consider going with the subscription model.

Some folks here have opted to freeze their perpetual licenses at a certain version. The product does what it does and is sufficient for them. They also freeze their OS version to ensure things are stable.

Keep in mind Apple updates their OS regularly and Protools often needs to be updated to retain compatibility. I suspect Microsoft has similar updates but less often (correct me if I'm wrong as I've not used Windows for over a decade). So either stick with an active perpetual+support plan or subscription plan is my recommendation. If you don't like annual payments, there are many other excellent DAWs out there.