i am building my personal dream house, and used sketchup pro to draw it up. It is about to expire and was woundering if i had to pay the $300 again or i could just not pay it and still be able to change a few things here and there on my plans i have drawn up already from my app? I’m not worried about tech support or the latest updates.
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It’s a subscription license. When it expires, it’ll stop working. If you are using it only for personal use, you could back save your SketchUp file to 2017 and use SketchUp Make instead. It’s free for personal use but you’ll not have LayOut, the various import and export options of some pro tools like the Solid Tools. You could also use SketchUp Free, the web version or maybe switch to SketchUp Shop which would also be web based. It is also a subscription thing but it would give you Solid Tools and the pro import/export options.
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When you stop with subscribing (don’t forget to change the plan settings!) you still have your ‘Free plan’ which enables you to view and edit in the the browser app. It’s a good idea to backup on your local machines anyway, so I recommend you would do that.
When a new version is released, you can always start the trial for the desktop app and decide if it’s worth an initial period.
You still get to have one project (10 Gb storage) with the free plan, so you might wanna clean things up in Trimble Connect.
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Also, from web app you can save (download to your computer) in SU2017 format and use the latest free desktop version. (SketchUp Make 2017.)
I’m currently using Make after trying out Pro, and it’s more or less about the same.
There’s not much difference so it will be perfectly fine. However since it’s SketchUp Make which is 2017, there might be some incompatibility with newer versions of SketchUp, but every other version after the current one will be compatible with the model that you have now.
I was previously using the web-based and it is lacking certain features like the ability to create materials unless if you have a Pro subscription. Of course, you could get round it by making new emails to get more free trials - which was what I did at the start - although it was very troublesome.
And, like what @DaveR said, Make doesn’t have Layout, Solid Tools and stuff, but I find that what Make has is enough to get about basic modelling.
Ahem. Thats exactly why this ‘subscription’ model sucks big time. Its you taken hostage by a business. Still cannot imagine why this has become normal.
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You seem to think this is unique to SketchUp. You can always choose to use a different application that doesn’t have a subscription license.
How about AutoCAD? Oh wait. Subscription. And more than five times the price of SketchUp.
Maybe Revit? No. Subscription.
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Its about the principle, not sketchup alone. I dont do adobe either for example, also because since cs6 there has been nothing added which is of any use.
In the sketchup case this is the same: nothing useful added for years, layout slowed down to below a crawl on top. In my honest opinion its a crooked businessmodel, whith almost no ear for the users, at least not from the ceo-table. See also the discussion large architects had with autodesk, them being dismissed as not interested by the company.
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I don’t agree with you regarding your comments about SketchUp or LayOut and I know for a fact that both the SketchUp and LayOut developers do listen to users and implement their suggestions where possible. You are certainly entitled to your opinion.
In my honest opinion, if you think Trimble’s business model is crooked, you should take your business elsewhere.
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Dave, i think subscriptions are crooked. In general. All of them. It seems to be a not very popular opinion. So be it. Which does not mean devs and support is not helpful. They are very much so.
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Remember, competition means whatever is possible is mandatory; If anyone can do it, then everyone must do it. The practice of being able to take away access to a person’s creative work if they don’t keep paying the continuous “protection money” ransom aught to be made illegal. That’s the only realistic solution I see. Pleading with companies not work this way won’t do much.
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What’s the alternative? To go back to paper and pencil?
Why? Is paying for upgrades (when there are real upgrades) such a bad idea? It gives the user a choice: Is it useful: go, If not, don’t. Having no choice for me as a user is always bad and kicks me into avoidance. But it seems software companies wear earplugs. From microsoft to adobe, including autodesk and trimble.
For the companies its a stimulus to do something good to their product. Which it now is not. I agree with rtcool on this.
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This seems to be a useless discussion. You think that the subscription model is criminal but it’s a common practice now and it’s unlikely to go away. So what is your workable alternative?
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If we all keep silent things never change.
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Any one that dealt with Trimble in the past knew a SU subscription WAS coming. This was no surprise or it should not have been 
I don’t like them either but it is what it is.
It’s become acceptable to have subscription for business software because every business expects to have yearly costs for everything. Businesses will simply pay. You can also consider that Trimble is providing free software for anyone using it for their personal use, It’s just not the latest professional version.
I’ll keep using my Classic license as long as it works, however.
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thanks dave! i decided to renew my subscription to make sure i have everything i need
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Not fighting against you, @DaveR, but I’m pretty sure that’s how architects and other people did it back in the 12th century and before.
I’m certainly no time-traveller, but I do know that computers and 3D modelling and documentation software was developed way before they built the Great Wall of China, , the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building. Sure, the latest of these - the Empire State Building’s construction began in 1930, later then when the first computer was designed, but was way earlier than when it was actually built.
My opinion on this argument is that SketchUp was generous enough to give us a free 30 day trial, as long as they had your email address, and would not take money away from our bank accounts immediately after the trial ended. SketchUp also offered us Make, which I find, has most of the tools that the Pro’s got, for no cost at all over how ever long we use it.
If you want a Pro alternative because you can’t afford $300 a year, just get Make as I did. You can make do without the Solid Tools and stuff.
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