Oh dear, after what seems an eternal wait an email from shaderlight saying their latest release was “2019” compatible made me check to see if a new version of sketchup was out. Very little on the net but it “seems” that Trimble have joined the greedy club and pushed Sketchup to a subscription model. If this is the case, we will not be upgrading anymore and staying on 2018.
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You should have researched a little more. There’s still a Classic license that works as you’ve been used to. They’ve only added a Subscription option which gives you not only SketchUp Pro but SketchUp Shop, unlimited storage on Trimble Connect, and other features.
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It looks like they have retained the “Classic” license so you don’t have to be on subscription. Details are here:
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Does the unlimited storage on Trimble Connect also include unlimited Projects or is that an additional cost again?
Yes, with a SketchUp subscription you get unlimited projects and unlimited storage.
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Nice 
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I made this break-even chart comparing SketchUp Shop ($199/YR) & Pro ($299/YR) subscriptions with the Classic license (one-time purchase of $695 plus the annual $120 maintenance fee thereafter).
With the SketchUp Pro Classic vs SketchUp Pro Subscription, looks like you’d break-even after about 3 years, and would then start to save money with the classic license (assuming it will still be offered in the future.)
Obviously, the SketchUp Pro subscription is much more affordable up front.
It’s worth noting that with the Pro subscription, you also get a lot more, like unlimited Trimble Connect storage, AR/VR viewing on mobile and on desktop. You also get SketchUp Shop (premium web-based SketchUp) included.
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My understanding is that your graph is wrong for Classic. I have not been able to find anything that says you can pay the $120/year and get the latest version. What I have seen so far says you would have to spend the $695 very year to the get latest version. Hope I am wrong 
From what I have been able to see:
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The $120 fee we paid this year gets us nothing! We do not get to update to 2019 Classic.
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If we pay the $295 (about 2.6 times the annual fee we have paid in the past) we do get the updates but when ever we stop paying the annual fee, the only thing we have left is the Free version which can only be used on the Web and it currently does not support any of the plugins we need.
I hope someone can show me that I am wrong. I also did not see any updates that would improve what we are doing in 2018. Once again, I hope someone can point out what I am missing.
Evidently you misread the info or somewhere got the wrong information.
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The annual maintenance and support fee is the same as it was (see pic below from the new site). If you are current on maintenance and support you will be getting an update message in the very near future.
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OK, so somehow I did not see that. Thanks a ton for setting me straight.
Looks like the biggest difference is the amount of Trimble Connect storage and the VR/AR stuff. Am I getting that correct?
Both with get you the same Desktop software (SketchUp Pro plus LayOut and Style Builder), but the subscription will also get you access to SketchUp Shop, unlimited storage on Trimble Connect, plus SketchUp Viewer for mobile and VR/AR.
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Since you are online, what would Shop do for me? 
Looking forward to getting my license info so I can upgrade to 2019 and see it first hand. 
Shop compared to Free is listed in a couple of places. Here’s one, that lists the many file formats you can export in:
https://help.sketchup.com/en/sketchup-web/whats-included-sketchup-shop
The main thing though is that with Free you can only produce non-commercial work. If you’re charging for what you model, you need to be on a paid version.
So here we are talking about the business model. Meanwhile as far as I can tell at first blush the feature improvements are pathetic. Really in 2019 you spend a paragraph bragging about being able to make a dashed line. And oh wow a better measuring tape. I’m just so disappointed. I don’t need any free storage thanks. Tune up the dwg compatibility I think I here Autodesk knocking.
But wait I m not done. John Brock did more with his PDF import plugin then you guys did all year. Oh yeah that another $100.00 a year.
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It doesn’t look like the chart is showing all of the potential costs involved.
Isn’t there an additional fee for reinstating an expired maintenance and support fee package?
Or, is that being dropped now?
If so, then it’s probably better to acknowledge it, even as an asterisked footnote to the current mention of ‘$120 to upgrade annually’ fee—than to have any last minute surprises, and confusions during time of payment.
This thread seems to answer some questions I asked in an earlier thread. Those of us on a maintenance arrangement will soon be able to upgrade to 2019. The graph that @Matt has uploaded here is presumably only relevant to someone starting afresh. Unless you really needed the extra features that a subscription provides, it remains much cheaper to stay on a maintenance arrangement. Is that right?
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I literally just got my maintenance upgrade link & code so I can install and run 2019 now but will wait for Thea and other plugins to be ready first.
The website is very unclear though, I don’t have all day to trawl through jargon trying to sell me onto subscription or name changes. I just want the facts mam as they say.
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Yes, of course. And even with their penalty (“reinstatement fee”) it can be cheaper to wait two years until there are maybe some benefits in a new version that make it worth to pay for it and reorganize all your plugins and settings…
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