Did ArchiCAD Make a HUGE MISTAKE?

[@robynhawke2180]

Have been a user of archicad since version 8 and love the software but get so frustrated at the costs to keep it updated - as a very small company, I have 2 perpetual licenses - costs me $4,620 per year for the select agreement so i am up to date and can receive tech support. I find it really frustrating that I still need to purchase training on top of this as well as add ins such as the CI tools. For this price point, it should be included. I know many designers who have walked away because the cost is just too much. They are pricing themselves out of the market

[@DavidTomic]

We currently have 7x select agreements so I feel your pain!

[@robynhawke2180]

@@DavidTomic ouch, that really hurts

[@lvseka]

I practice in Kenya which would even have an even worse ratio. The standard software in most firms is Archicad and the prices required by Graphisoft are just not viable for most solo practitioners. That’s why piracy exists.

[@MattTilbury]

I feel so duped.!!! I was sold a perpetual license thinking a scored before having to go to subscription. Now Im told I will have to go to subscription next year and Ive just been sent a 2500k bill for service select agreement. I paid 14800k a year ago. Wish I went to Vectorworks who are also subscription but not a rip off!!!! Really not happy

[@DavidTomic]

you don't have to upgrade. if your purchased a perpetual license you can keep it and never spend another dollar, you just won't get any of the updates

[@lovenaomiwu]

totally agree, hope ArchiCAD really listens what industry needs.

[@DavidTomic]

With enough support on this video, maybe they’ll at least hear the message

[@Bananasifyful]

I find Bricscads Pricing very tempting but I have Years of Templates and Work put into Archicad. For a small Business here in Germany, the Costs of Archicad and other BIM Subscriptions are absurd. Im hoping there will be an Open Source Bim software. Something like Sketchup but with good Layout and 2D Abilities.

[@DavidTomic]

Bricscad has some interesting ideas and will be interesting to see what they do next

[@Monsieur405]

Sounds like they've jumped the shark and won't be around much longer. Revit is already the major player in Sydney AU.

[@DavidTomic]

They be around for a while. They know it costs companies more to switch

[@Sitewebdevelopers]

@@DavidTomic and even more to maintain... 🤨 a bit like cocaine! 😂

[@Tearoha1987]

This. Graphisoft are ditching the software this is their last ditch cash grab

[@Architypecal]

Revit offers a 'light' subscription which omits some features & is geared towards sole practitioners. It costs CAD$725/yr compared to $3900/yr for the full version. Compare that to archicad solo which is $3070/yr versus $3510/yr. Archicad should consider a low cost version with some features removed.

[@rogalewskip]

There is archicad start edition. Not sure what are the current subscription prices though

[@Sitewebdevelopers]

A no go for me as they don't accept any plugin on LT ( like Rhinoinside...)

[@hbsaxby]

I wish Revit would consider a Mac version.

[@DavidTomic]

archicad does have a lite version (or at least did) but you really had to know it existed, it wasn't really advertised anywhere. same deal though, very limiting.

[@TheStudiominniti1]

Hi David, I agree with you everything. It's crazy what's happening, too bad, they'll lose a lot of customers

[@Sitewebdevelopers]

With only 3% of the Bim market, Archicad is a bit like David against Goliath (Revit 80%) but without a way to prevail significantly at the end (except price)... Beside Software like Rhino with version 8 muscle up like Crazy with Bim capacity with VisualArc so... not good not good at all, I truly believe they will finish like Chief architect! forgotten.... Dilutional aspiration is never a good trend, their software should be under 100$ subscription... even 50-70$ for the all suite to regain momentum and maybe gain a bigger part of the market that way, if they don't act quicker it will be too late before they realised the massive 'booboo' (or mess) of being completely unreasonable! I know lots of Architects who are switching to perpetual licence Rhino 8/Grasshopper (1 and 2) combo.... that seem to be the trend now in UK anyway

[@DavidTomic]

They lose small customers but the big firms will have to many costs to switch over so I doubt they’ll lose the important ones that pay the biggest fees

[@Sitewebdevelopers]

@@DavidTomic It still all depends on what is out there... in term of software and how they will develop in AEC industry! How can you keep the same momentum with 8 billion humans on this planet? you can be sure there will be surprises in the future.... everybody talk about .IFC but what about .USD (Universal Scene Description (USD))? or other formats that can flair up anytime soon? it is a very volatile market and who knows what will be next big thing in the building landscape? Bentley? Rhino? Blender? etc... Don't get me wrong I love Archicad but if they don't set up their shop correctly... I and others will be out before they know it! No time to waist with vampire... 😂I will not be bleed to death 😂😂😂 perpetual is the only way to go for me... or really cheap monthly licencing! 50/70£ max... anyway you still have time until end of 2025 with Archicad for perpetual... so plenty of time to watch the AEC space before to spend 6000£ on a perpetual licence!

[@izoyt]

@@DavidTomic small studios are probably 90% of graphisoft income. if not more..

[@rogalewskip]

Outrageous pricing! Can't wait for Chinese to show their BIM solutions. Affordable for really small companies who already migrated to Gstarcad and zwcad.

[@DavidTomic]

The next decade will reveal a plethora of new bim software that we can’t even imagine

[@Sitewebdevelopers]

Dreadful sofware Briscad, Gstarcad and zwcad.. not really bim as such (not like Revit or ArchiCad...), hard to work on the model and you end up with blocks as 3 d projection because they glue like crazy on .dwg... Rhino/Grasshopper has an interesting way and concept with Nurbs with BIM, that is the horse I am betting to for the future of AEC, mind you still have beef up your computer with some good processors/specs (mine has 24 cores +128 mega ram + RTX 3070) in order to get by....

[@Sitewebdevelopers]

Maybe Blenderbim... and it is free!

[@rogalewskip]

@@Sitewebdevelopers I already ditched sketchup for blender :)

[@tsrblk]

search for Cype Architecture. It is free BIM software, it is a softare that complements a set of software for calculating structures and installations that are paid. But this architecture design software is free and they are always updating it.

[@silvioziegler3184]

I am very surprised about this prices and hope sone data from Germany will come up. I need to check, but as far I remember right, we paid around 9000usd and for the next three years with support and updates just 800USD per year. thats totally different than all the numbers you listed

[@DavidTomic]

Every country is so vastly different I wouldn’t be surprised if you paid that.

[@izoyt]

yes, looks like australia is archicad black listed by auotodesk, lol. we all know how they play under table (with politics involved and all that)

[@emmahoward3608]

I've been a user of archicad since release 6.5 and for the first time I've considered switching to revit. Even with the opportunity cost of having learn a new software.

[@schrenno]

Switching from Archicad to Revit is not a good idea. In my opinion, you can't create a good 3D model with it, but that's the key to BIM

[@archplan-associates3198]

Agree completely Graphisoft really need to re-look at their licence fees especially for small architectural practices.

[@radukapu]

Graphisoft focuses more and more on large companies and does really care about small studios. Just a thought, can’t you purchase the software in different country and then download the suitable version?

[@DavidTomic]

not sure you can, I believe the purchase might be geolocked with a residential address required, however never tried so maybe? haha

No, you can't. That is the reason for different prices. When you buy a license, it is specific to a localized version. For example, in Croatia, you can only buy the INT version. I can download some other version of Archicad, Germany for example, and you will get a "No license" message when you start Archicad GER.

[@izoyt]

there are not any large companies in (real) architecture world left.

[@michaeljohl4669]

Do the prices include taxes?

[@daviddimovski9595]

this is so fucking shit, im not paying 5k, i already think 2k for the select agreement is bullshit. if i dont pay it, can i just keen using the version i am on?

[@DavidTomic]

I believe so. There is a statement that mentions if you’re on the select agreement already that you may be entitled to continue just paying that rate but after weeks of waiting for a formal reply I still don’t know if it’s true or not

[@daviddimovski9595]

@DavidTomic I just emailed central innovation, the usually get back to me pretty quick. I'll keep you posted. I'm telling you now though I'm not paying over 5k for that. 100% cracked version just like the majority of people already complaining about the current cost. Madness!

[@Tearoha1987]

Yes you can, that’s what a lot of us are doing, sticking with v26/27 and will use it until we can’t then switch to revit

[@csdesignstudio]

We paid roughly $6,000 USD per seat in 2016. Every year we pay a renewal fee for,each seat. Started at $750 / yr in 2017. Currently it’s almost $1k per seat per year. I’m glad I’m not a NEW customer. I’m assuming this pricing is for NEW customers only. Is it?

[@DavidTomic]

From what I’ve been able to dig up, at least in Australia, yes it’s for new customers. If existing customers don’t transfer their select agreements over then they’ll be treated as new customers. If you tell your rep to transfer you over then apparently you’ll continue to pay the current renewal fees indefinitely.

[@Tearoha1987]

In NZ we had a national industry wide letter of complaint to central innovation, most of us are canning our ci sub, sticking with v26, ditching ArchiCAD in the long term when it inevitably stops working, moving to Revit or LT. This is an obvious cash grab from a sinking ship company. They know we will all drop the software know we can see the extortion for what it is. The lack of upgrades speak for themselves. This software is dead and dying. Don’t give them another cent.

[@DavidTomic]

Brutal 😂

[@Tearoha1987]

@@DavidTomic it’s true! 😂 I’m talking 100s of business owners

[@tsrblk]

In Spain the suscripción cost 265€ per mounth, but if you pay a year then the cost is 153€ x 12. Perpetual 6480€, and fssforward 892€/ year. All these price must + 21% tax. BUT I LOVE ARCHICAD

[@DavidTomic]

Quickly adds up to a lot of money!

[@tsrblk]

​@@DavidTomic It's a bad deal for graphisoft, if the price goes up then we'll see that abuse and it'll be graphisoft hurting itself because it will force us to abandon its software for others that will inevitably come. I chose this software because of the perpetual license, I like to own things. The system upgrade has an adjusted price tag that I agree with. But I'm not going to be willing to pay more. Here, we have a completely free BIM software. CYPE ARCHITECTURE. Look it up.

[@tsrblk]

@@DavidTomic It's a bad deal for graphisoft, if the price goes up then we'll see that abuse and it'll be graphisoft hurting itself because it will force us to abandon its software for others that will inevitably come. I chose this software because of the perpetual license, I like to own things. The system upgrade has an adjusted price tag that I agree with. But I'm not going to be willing to pay more. Here, we have a completely free BIM software. CYPE ARCHITECTURE. Look it up.

[@tsrblk]

​@@DavidTomic yes, you were right. The did it😢

[@richardloureiro86]

If they would make it like my Autocad Lt License and my Adobe License for all the software that's cost me 60€/month with a year of subscription. It costs less to pay that value per month even it is an anula subscription (dont pay it total once) and believe it or not I know some that used AUTOCAD and PS the way you know, but since its affordable they prefere for sure pay a license. If um multiply that in volume would make a lot really of money for Graphisoft.

[@DavidTomic]

You can pay per month but it significantly more overall. Eg I believe it’s $700ish a month ($8.4K per year) whereas only 5k if you pay up front.

[@andrewjennings5002]

I work for a big business using auto cad and the peice restricts us going to archicad. We would need at least 4 lisences. Anyone know how that would be priced?

[@DavidTomic]

Depends where you live. If you can get a perpetual license still, over $40k in AUS

[@andrewjennings5002]

@@DavidTomic revit is looking pretty good right about now!

[@iplodrunner]

Well, they’ve just lost me. I’m done with this pricing structure. I’ll stick with the version I have and remain a dinosaur. The incremental improvements are just not worth it.

[@DavidTomic]

I might be with you. Upgrade every 5 years and then deal with the template mess at the time.

[@izoyt]

this is what imo will happen with majority of their clients, me included. and i do think its attentional, but i don't want to get into (geo) politics and all that..

[@oth3b]

May the peace and mercy of God be upon you, Professor, can you share a ready-made Photoshop file for Portfolio?

[@nicolasrivera5310]

Graphisoft has no idea how Architects work in the real world in a Day to Day basis. What they really need to do is release Archicad for iPad. Why would the not???

[@lvseka]

You really think most Architects care about the iPad?

[@nicolasrivera5310]

@@lvseka Young ones do, its an efficiency tool

[@izoyt]

bs

[@baronechalarpablofrancisco2472]

What do you think of vectorworks?

[@DavidTomic]

Never used it. No demand for it in Aus.

[@jaykenny4205]

It used to be good... But Revit is now the King.

[@izoyt]

vectoworks is very good, specially for lanscape design etc, since it is nurbs based (which arvicad or revit it's not, you need plugins for (true) freeform work). if nemetscheck comes to its senses, it would combined this two in one product and offer it in different version with old model subscriptions..

[@Sammil-gv5cx]

it should be ilegal the suscription pricing

[@DavidTomic]

I have a feeling it may change as the entire archicad community is up in arms about this, not because their existing subscriptions will costs more but because it limits future purchases

[@Sitewebdevelopers]

@@DavidTomic and.... because everybody is behind Revit! Beggars can't be choosers 😔 If the subscription is the same as Revit I will definitely switch to Revit because Rhino/grasshopper works like a dream on Revit. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnK0n5traNuKkLM

[@jaykenny4205]

I recently taught a 3 day Revit course to an Architectural firm with 50 people that all used ArchiCAD. It took a number of months to get everyone up to speed. Once finished, all 50 members informed me Revit was so much better and far more intuitive. Additionally, they all dreaded going back to ArchiCAD so they could finish off their current jobs which were on site.

[@Cbricklyne]

I don't believe a single word of this. But I'm sure it sounded great in your head.

[@jaykenny4205]

@@Cbricklyne OK

[@lvseka]

Ha, Revit isn’t intuitive at all.

[@jaykenny4205]

@@lvseka Yep, that's the problem with it. Nearly every top tier contractor in the UK asks for Revit.

[@izoyt]

bs and forced marketing, revit/autodesk is using for years, now in all fb groups etc. stop with this nosense..

[@MaxGDesign]

Dogs.