Let's talk about price

SketchUpTeam · July 28, 2015, 5:56pm

Let’s talk about price…
-By The SketchUp Team

Today, our team is doing something relatively uncommon in the history of SketchUp: changing the price.
For the first 13 years we sold SketchUp, we charged $495 for a single-user Pro license. Two years ago, we included our $95 Maintenance & Support package with new licenses. That brought the total to $590 USD for a new license and a year’s worth of upgrades, maintenance, and support.

Starting later this week, you can purchase a new SketchUp Pro 2015 license for $700. That breaks down to $580 for a non-expiring license, and $120 for our Maintenance & Support plan. (Please note: our network license pricing has changed too, but our educational discounts haven’t!).

Read all about it in our new blog post: Let's talk about price...

Thanks for reading, and happy sketching,
Your friendly neighborhood SketchUp Team

colin · July 28, 2015, 6:30pm

You could have had some fun with that message, and say that you were increasing Make to 200% of its existing price!

tobias_hochguertel · July 28, 2015, 6:52pm

I’m really grateful for the educational discounts, and that this has not changed. Good licensing policy, thank you for doing this.

jvleearchitects · July 28, 2015, 9:44pm

I suppose a marginal increase in price should be expected from time to time, although much like death and taxes, only a speculative few actually look forward to the experience.

JimD · July 29, 2015, 2:15am

Hi, Alex

Do you have any info for what the upgrade pricing is for those who already have pro versions. but not necessarily the maintenance and support plan?

And for that matter—What does it cost to buy back into the Maintenance & Support plan? once the initial coverage has run out?

I like this article, but it seems to leave out info that’s of vital importance to the procrastinator. we have enough problems already you know.

SketchUpTeam · July 29, 2015, 7:55pm

@JimD

It’s $120 to upgrade if you have a current Maintenance & Support plan. If you do not, then it is $120 + a reinstatement fee of $60 for a total of $180 to upgrade to the newest version of SketchUp and have Maintenance & Support for a year.

Thank you,
Alex

Ichabod117 · August 3, 2015, 2:50am

This sudden 20% increase in cost has just priced me out of the purchasing the
software.

I am a college student on the GI Bill and have been scraping pennies together to
purchase SketchUp-Pro . . . I was finally ready to buy it this month. I am trying to
set up a freelance 3D model making business.

Last week it was still $590. This dramatic leap in price has now ruined those plans.

What are users getting for a 20.6% increase? I have absolutely ZERO need for
this maintenance and support plan. Are we getting a Fillet and Chamfer tool as
featured on SolidWorks? Are we getting a Vertex, Edge Line and Plane selecting
tool as featured on Maya? Are we getting a poly-count multiplier as featured on
ZBrush? Is there a fix to the redundant polygon generation or line merging?

We are getting NONE of that . . . all I see is a price increase that came without
warning.

I use SketchUp because it is intuitive, easy to use, forgiving in the construction of
shapes, and gaining ground in the video game and movie production design industry.

I cannot get training in software needed for that outside of school, they are too
expensive and the new infusion of “cloud” subscriptions for licenses will make
things near impossible for artists without means.

I need to be able to build models for export in OBJ Format, as Maya is the 3D
modeling standard for the industry but extremely difficult to use; to the point
of being anti-intuitive.

I NEVER received warning of this price leap and I am on the newsletter listing.

So now I am very ANGRY at what SketchUp has decided to spring on private
users.

You need to offer different options for your customer base, as I have no desire
for this tech support add-on. Exactly like when adobe changed photoshop to
a subscription only version, because as of this change, I cannot afford your
product. One I have need of to even have a chance at making myself employable
after the Army.

I have bills and expenses and will not be able to “just hold off” until later.

Now I am at a loss over what I am supposed to do now?

ChristopherCronin · August 3, 2015, 8:58am

Hi @Ichabod117,

As a student, you’ll likely qualify for a student license of SketchUp Pro. This license will give you access to all of the same features as the commercial version.

Best,
Chris

Ichabod117 · August 3, 2015, 7:42pm

Thank you, Mr.Cronin,

but I am trying to start a “Garage Business” building 3D models for
portfolio and freelance needs. This requires the commercial license,
as I cannot legally do that with the student version.

Thank you for your time

Rick · August 19, 2015, 12:49pm

Sorry to hear that. What I like is that they offer it free if you are an educator, I never heard of companies doing that before so even though this does not help you, at least it’s great they do that.

Can you use the free version and just use plugin’s in order to import different kinds of files? I would try that until you can buy the pro.

How many classes are you taking on the G.I. bill? I ask because my brother is using his G.I. Bill going to school and he is working a 30 hour a week job at the same time. Perhaps try that because between the living allowance he gets with the G.I. bill, while they pay for all of his tution, and the 30 hour a week job, he has too much money and is maxing out his Roth IRA.

betazero · December 15, 2018, 12:57am

Please add a $19.99 per month subscription version. Also, maintenance and support is fine but how about some new and compelling features added to Sketchup? Like reflections and more material settings and a live rendering engine( see programs like Lumion ). Support for material height maps would be great too!! Some love to the Mac UI and the tool box mess that exists.

Thanks,
Russell

Julian_Smith · December 15, 2018, 11:32am

You’re posting this in a thread about price? Have you compared the price of Lumion (or similar software with the features you’re referring to) to SketchUp? Forget that programs like Lumion requires a host program where the main content is created.

betazero · January 2, 2019, 9:29pm

Because price for me is related to what new features will you be offered for Sketchup. For me I have not seen a new compelling Sketchup feature in a long time therefore I do not see a reason to increase the price. I do not use layout and do not follow its features and styles I think I opened once. In fact, if it is just going to be maintenance upgrades, a price reduction would be nice. Please tell me some new features from 2007 to 2019 Sketchup… I can not think of any and I am really trying…

For me the import and export features are the only thing that pro offers over make. Add a program like Lumion to the Pro apps for arranging Sketchup models and rendering them with reflections and lighting etc… Or integrate some more material settings like reflections and specular and glow.

SketchUp3D_de · January 3, 2019, 2:00pm

pricing is typically dependent on e.g. market share and competition (aka supply and demand) as well as inflation and not only on new features, otherwise price would need to be increased w/ every new major version. Latest price adjustment was btw in July 2015.

• SketchUp Help: Release Notes
• SketchUp Help: Older Release Notes

kimberleydesigner · January 3, 2019, 4:23pm

you can see the sketchup is losing ground, I have lost interest in it since they dropped the updating the Free desktop version. i don’t see many people putting up video now like I use to see and that is an indication that the excitement is gone. Yes no new feature worth talking about. and absolutely no reason to upgrade. I am a pro user and I still use 2017.

betazero · January 3, 2019, 5:23pm

Like I said yes there are some quality of life features added but really Sketchup has not added much since Sketchup 7.1 or 8. In fact some of the inference stuff is worse than a couple features back. That black line that is grabbing something but I have never figured out what… I have to escape and clear any command I was in the process of using and try again. I am all for the Porsche like mentality of keeping the look and feel the same but there has to be more depth and features when you start digging into the program to justify raising the price. Personally I think if you put a $199 price tag you would sell 30 times more licenses but hey what do I know.Then charge $49 for upgrades or switch to a $9.99 a month subscription.

DaveR · January 3, 2019, 5:36pm

You seem to know exactly what SketchUp needs to make it better. Maybe you should buy it from Trimble and run it “correctly.” Put your money where your mouth is.

betazero · January 3, 2019, 6:32pm

I do not have a big company to buy it or I would ( what a weird comment by the way ). I didn’t start this thread so I assume they would like to hear our opinions. If they want to listen its up to them. Personally I wish Adobe would buy Sketchup. They do a great job of keeping the UI the same across Windows and Mac. The Mac UI for Sketchup needs so much love that its painful. All the work they did for the web based version, if just a little of that effort could have been passed to the Mac version it would have been nice.

I seriously wish they would switch to subscription. The constant influx of capital would allow the Sketchup crew to add some bigger features. At 600 bucks you are just crying out for pirates to crack the program. It is counterproductive monetarily in my opinion. I am just giving my viewpoint as a user and lover and hater sometimes of Sketchup. It is the ONLY 3d modeler I have fun using . There are other programs that can get the job done but they hinder creativity. For instance Fusion 360. Sure it could get the job done but it is just not a fluid experience.