Sketchup is not Vectorworks
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Totally agree with you. It seems that the switch to the annual subscription method comes to trap the users and squeeze them every year, when the return from the development side does not justify the high payment required.
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stumbled upon this old thread. I paid for the annual subscription, however I am keeping my 2022 version instead of upgrading to 2023, for some time now due to the exact reason: Extensions.
I have to upgrade the said paid extension also if I upgrade to SU 2023, when 2022 still works perfectly.
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Subscription is nice, isn’t it? The observation today is what we were saying in 2020.
@home i have SUP22 (for work) installed next to SU17 (personal fun), so it should be possible 
Just need to make sure your shortcut opens the correct version!
And in Trust we God
I see you’re not only flipping versions of SketchUp.
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You may call me a skenky, sketchup junky 
I’m afraid i’ll never flip SU, stil have most SU installers from SU7 and up ^^
SUP on the other hand … as long as it’s proffitable for my boss, we’ll use it!
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But then you may not use it for commercial use? 
Cheeky
I will just add to the very savvy and concerning comments here: besides not owning anything - sounds like communism, the whole model begs a question - How much does it cost? As of now, it costs 349.9 p/a. In three years you will have spent rounding up 1050 USD! And you do not own anything. Just for reference, the subscription model started in 2021 at 229.9 USD to become 249.9 USD. Then, it was 299.90 USD, and now 349.90 USD. In four years this is an increase of whopping 65%! We can easily see why this model was introduced and where it leads. It has nothing to do with costs or innovation but only with profits at the boardroom level. All the while money was wasted on supplementary applications that are completely useless unless you want to show off that you have a 3D app on your iPhone. Btw statistics show that almost no one uses the free or cloud version. All the while one application was fragmented into three versions all for the benefit of increasing the cost. To be fair the 749.9 subscription not only makes the most sense in terms of functionality, but also in terms of economy. Studio (749.90) has new features, supports add-ons, and finally has Vray subscription incorporated. If you have a Vray subscription it makes no sense to go for Pro - or whatever is called now, as you would pay more than subscribing to the Studio version. Finally, I must say despite an increase of 65% very little improvement has been achieved. Addons are still laggy and SK is prone to crashing. In terms of the features pretty much everything is the same. Otherwise, why would we be using free or paid addons? I do not assume this post will be published as it was the case 4 years ago when I argued that clients who have been upgrading their SK for years deserve to stay on the legacy model. After all Foundry, McNeel, and others still offer this model and they are profitable.
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no. the subscription started before 2021. If I remember correctly, I’d say it started with SU19 late 2018 ?
In march of 2019 it was already 299$
you might be taking into account some discount like black friday in your math. but that’s not base price, that’s discounted.
Or, maybe you’re thinking of sketchup Shop, at 199$, that later became sketchup Go?
So between 2019 and 2023 it took a whooping 17%, not 65%
FYI, the global inflation (at least in $) from 2019 to 2023 was 19,2% , and predictions for 2024 are at 22% total. I hope nobody tells trimble’s accountants…
more about it on this other thread from last year discussing price hike and inflation
and on this one when SU started offering subscription early 2019
The return of a classic licence system would be appreciated. but that’s not the direction Trimble, much like the majority of the software industry, is moving toward.
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It’s $30 a month, basically. That’s LESS than an hour of work compensation, which you use the software to generate. That’s a fair deal.
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Can you link these statistics? I’d love to see them
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conclusion: subscription is a rabbit trap
Subscriptions were introduced in Sketchup 2019.
Subscription is not a problem if it is an option freely chosen by the customer. In 2019 you could pay around $100 per update with a classic license.