This thread is wild.
If you like the software and can afford it then buy a license upgrade. If you don’t then don’t.
I like DT as much as the next person but the weird loyalties and feelings of betrayal that I sense in this thread is bizarre to me.
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I disagree with you.
It is super helpful for Devon Technologies to get feedback on the new licensing model from customers so they can adjust if they feel the feedback warrants it. If customers kept their mouths shut and jumped ship instead that would be must worse!
Healthy dialog is important. Even if we don’t all agree with the points everyone is raising on both sides of the issue.
The trend these days toward telling people to not share opinions or have discussions really confuse me. You can always skip threads like this if they don’t interest you…
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Welcome @LogicalApex
Indeed, we agree with you. Everyone can voice their opinions, for and against. Ultimately, the final decision and direction is up to us, but we don’t shut people down from speaking.
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Lots of great discussion here and lots of good responses from official capacities which is great to see.
I think the new licensing model needs some additional clarification, as others have suggested, around it being more transparent. How pricing works when users avail themselves of off-ramps allowing them to skip a year or more of upgrades. There needs to be better incentives to maintain a subscription. There also needs to be a bit more clarity around what users can expect within these yearly upgrade cycles. Wouldn’t be great to have a year of “bug fix” releases only.
For instance, my Server license would be $150 to upgrade. I assume if I skip a year it would be $350 to get it going again. But if updates aren’t “major” enough to me it would actually be cheaper for me renew every 3 or 4 years instead of annually (basically waiting until a macOS update makes it mandatory). That doesn’t seem like a healthy path for the licensing model to push me toward.
Since the cost of entry into the system is the same as it was for DT3 why aren’t the renewal prices a bit more reasonable for my Server license? Like $100/y for renewal year 1, $75/y for year 2, $50 for year 3 onwards? Then customers are given an incentive to stay on the subscription, but at a much better ongoing cost. That’s still a huge price increase over DT3 at just under 2x, but a much more reasonable model in many ways.
I’d also consider DT moving toward a yearly major release. Maybe it shifts to a DT 2025, DT 2026, etc versioning model or DT4 in 2025, DT5 in 2026, etc. as there will need to be some serious showing of features to justify the much heftier annual pricing…
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Absolutely! These discussions are great feedback loops to help you all make the best possible decisions. Very glad to see you contributing and listening to customers!
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I assume if I skip a year it would be $350 to get it going again.
I’m not sure why you’d assume that. An extension should only be $149. We’re not keeping a running tab on you or anyone.
why aren’t the renewal prices a bit more reasonable for my Server license?
I’d say they’re even more favorable if you own Server, relatively speaking. It’s 30% of the purchase price, compared to 50% for the other editions. And that covers the seats as you extend the license not the seats.
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Just to understand:
New User buys first DT Pro license $200, starts year 1.
Year 1 ends. This user can extend license for $100. Or not. starts year 2
Year 2 ends. If the user extended, they can pay another $100 to extend again starts year 3
If the user did not extend at end of year 1, but wants to extend now (at end of year 2), what do they pay? $100? or $200 for a new license? starts year 3
Year 3 ends. The user can extend again for $100
or, if they did not extend at the end of year 1 or year 2, but want an updated version of DT pro now, how much does it cost? $100 to extend original license (originally purchased 3 years ago)? Or $200 for a new license?
It would be nice if the DT staff could be more clear about what the new pricing scheme really is - it might make it a little easier for folks, instead of having people guessing at what is really going on.
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I agree with you in somethings but to be fair they were generous by not charging us for almost 5 years. well technically 2 years. paid $200 for 3 years and we get 2 year free.
THAT being said I don’t agree with the pricing FOR those of us that use it for private and not consistent. for us moderate user I would say $50/$70 a year would be justifiable
Now they went the subscription way (worded differently) and joined the American way.
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@abusch your comment interested me so I logged into my account. Nearly 17 years for me. Crazy. I have also followed this thread with great interest, as I personally don’t understand why the new model is so confusing. Thanks for your hard work guys! Aside from Apple’s built-in apps, yours is the only one I can think of I’ve used for such a long stretch of time.
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This is how it works with Tinderbox (and AFAICS from what DT have said, that’s the model they’re adopting):
Year 1: buy the full licence (say £200). (Or if you already own DT3, pay £100 to move to DT4). (Figures are approximate).
End of year 1: decide whether to extend at £100.
If you do extend then 12 months later you have the same decision at £100.
If you don’t extend, then you can at any point (i.e. not just at year end) later change your mind and update for £100 and get all the updates so far plus another 12 months updates.
E.g.
- 2025: buy full licence.
- 2026: skip update
- 2027: skip update
- 2028: update for £100 and get the 2026, 2027 ‘old’ updates and 12 months ‘new’ updates from the date you make the payment.
I.e. you always get the update price, and it always brings you up to date + 1 more year.
Of course the price of the update may vary (inflation etc) over the years, but it will be the update price, not the full licence, whenever you update.
Basically, your initial £200 gets you a valid permanent licence plus a year of updates and you never lose access to those features. After that, you only pay the update price if and when you decide it’s worth doing, but you can still use the program exactly as before.
HTH…
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This is a very clear way of explaining it 
However, just as the pricing model has been changed now, it may be changed in the future. I’m not assuming that, but there’s no guarantee that everything will still be the same in 2028. Right?
Given the turmoil over the pond, I’m not confident about anything for the rest of 2025, never mind whether any particular software house will still exist in 2028!
But your comment applies more so to ‘genuine’ subscriptions and even to ‘full’ purchases – users can’t be certain about what’s going to happen in the future. If you don’t trust the developers to do what they say, then you perhaps you shouldn’t trust using their software at all? It’s (genuinely) a personal choice and YMMV…
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Is there ever a guarantee that something will still be the same in three years’ time? Like “we will always have a custom-free trade between certain countries”, or “prices for eggs will be the same”, or “DT’s price model will not change”?
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I can empathise with both filou53 and Stephen_C’s views.
I have also retired so I have a finite budget and no company to pay for my DT3/4 subscription. However, I actively follow my former industry and have personal and community interests for which I collect and analyse information. I have been using DEVONthink for three years for this purpose. As I have learnt more and more of its powerful features it has become central to my personal knowledge management.
My finances for computer software are limited, but at the moment I can justify paying €4.6/month to continue using DEVONthink…unless it is double that for my Pro version. Having invested so much time in getting DEVONthink to do exactly what I want, I cannot imagine being without it.
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Yes, I know how Tinderbox does it. I was hoping that one of the Devontech people could actually confirm that this is how they are planning to do it, with actual prices. They do say “You will also receive a discount if you extend your license regularly.” - how much of a discount? What about people who are students and non-profits? Do they get a discount on the extension price, or only on the initial price?
A lot of this thread has happened because, aside from saying the model is “more flexible and modern” they haven’t given any details. So we’ve had people saying that they are going to pay 6x the price over 6 years, and all sorts of other things. Maybe this was the DT goal - to sort of feel out the community to see what they’d support. But it has created a sense of confusion and almost panic. I feel like a clear statement from them, with the actual rules that they plan to follow, will help clear a lot of this up. They really shouldn’t have people guessing as to what their pricing structure is going to be.
I don’t think this is asking a lot, and it seems like someone who is selling something should actually make the full pricing structure known to potential customers. And it should be OK for customers to ask what the full pricing structure is before they buy.
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Indeed, I was also seeking a pricing page that included information on the first purchase, extended pricing, regular prices, discount prices for direct extensions, and later extensions, as well as discounts for academics and NGOs. However, I am confident that this information will be provided until the launch of DTP4. Please note that we are currently in the beta phase.
It is the beta that they are now selling - when you go to the “buy” page. It isn’t unreasonable to know the pricing structure for the product they are currently selling.
Firstly:
I mainly use DTTG3 on my iPad - what are the plans for this? Will there be a 'universal licence for DT to include the Mac and iPad/iOS? or will there be a licence payment for this as well?
Secondly:
listening to ATP podcast, it is clear that support for software costs time and money. I have been helped on many occasions with support from Jim, Eric and others - over and above what I could get from other software houses. When I add up the costs of this support, I have certainly got my money’s worth on my purchase of DT3 (and more)
So, if we wish to continue with the support that is readily given, we have to pay for this. Today, this means a recurring subscription/licence payment/cost.
Thirdly:
I am pleased that I will not immediately lose use of DT if I ‘forget’ to pay my licence. A ‘bricked’ app is not a pleasant thing.
I suspect that I will see what DT4 has to offer for me and make my upgrade decision at an opportune time - after all, software will not work in perpetuity (rip Wordstar etc etc).
If the new financial arrangements permit Devon Tech to employ more engineers to implement ‘features’ that we have been suggesting, then this change will be entirely positive
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No, there is no such license and thanks for the supportive comments! 
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I thought about these changes yesterday… I am a DT Pro user since version 2 and I have to say that I am very saddened by sugarcoating language in the announcement. There is nothing “modern” and “flexible” about the new license model. At least I would expect to have a honesty to call it as what it is - a hefty price increase. Since the old-school and inflexible pricing before has covered everything the “modern” one covers for a fraction of the TCO.
Second, with such a price increase, I don’t see us, home-users being the target auditory anymore. Of course, all pricing is subjective, but it is hard to justify such a 5x increase for non-professional usage. It is sad, but it is what it is.
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