New Plan Please...

brian_medlock

Greetings from a very happy Onshape user in Australia. I absolutely love using the software and have been using the free plan. I'm getting quite proficient at it now and can spin off a design from scratch and get it to the printer before the previous job has finished printing. It really is great "idea to finished print software", and is now my favorite piece of software in the whole windows world :-) 
Because i use it so much, I have problems with the 10 private document limit and have to constantly juggle and delete to be able to keep going. On trying to upgrade to the Pro plan, I was shocked at first to see only one paying plan at $100 per month. This is more than I can afford. I do not doubt that you are building something great, and I certainly want to continue using it, but to go from zero to $100 in one go is a big jump. 
There are probably many more users with similar feelings, so can I ask if we can have a reduced introductory rate for all of us loyal beta testers. Maybe $25 a month with 50 private documents for the first year, it will help, and it will generate loyal customers for you. Pretty Please... go on, just do it.

3dcad

@brian_medlock

I'm sure 10 documents is not the problem, one document can have multiple tabs and multiple workspaces (versioning -> make branch). This way you can have a lot of stuff in 10 documents.

100mb of private space on the other hand will reach the limit pretty fast, you can 'survive' by taking a copy of document to purge history and reduce size but eventually you need to export or make things public.

there is multiple threads about middle tier and free plan limits:

https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/162/what-is-the-onshape-business-plan-and-roadmap
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1026/what-will-be-the-upcoming-changes-to-the-onshape-free-plan
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1379/is-there-room-for-a-low-cost-plan-in-oshapes-pricing-model
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1414/nitty-gritty-details-of-free-plan
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1559/why-not-a-perk-for-beta-testers
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1927/enforcement-of-free-plan-limits

philip_thomas

@brian_medlock  - please remember also, that the free plan is designed for amateurs and hobbyists that have no requirements to keep their data private. The free plan provides primarily, unlimited free public documents and 5GB of free online storage. Coupled with the same functionality as the Professional version, this is fantastic deal. The small number of free private documents and small amount of free private storage was intended to allow professional users the ability to evaluate Onshape against a proprietary design need prior to upgrading to Onshape Professional. I hope this clarifies our position.

michael3424

@brian_medlock - several users have requested an intermediate plan with costs and features somewhere between the two existing plans.  My hope is that at some point in the future, Onshape will be generating sufficient revenue to make such a plan possible in a business sense.   Either that or I start generating enough revenue to make a Pro plan financially viable <g>.

brucebartlett

@brain_medlock great to hear your using and enjoying Onshape. Where are you based?

Lowering Aussie $ doesn't help either unless you are exporting your product or skills, you will have to think of it as $140 AUD.

brian_medlock

Hi Bruce, I'm on the east coast about 3 hours north of Sydney. Making prototypes for my own use but so far not selling anything - just hoping that one of these "inventions" might be a winner one day. I'm happy to pay for Onshape. its a winner, easy to use and fun. Its just that $100 a month for the use of it is more than I can justify or afford right now. No one can complain about free usage - thanks very much - but for a eager hobbyist or start-up the free version doesn't have enough private documents, the 10 available go in a flash once you start making useful parts. So then the only other option is a giant leap to $100... a month! ouch. Just asking for a transitional in-between sign-up to enable us beta testers to become Onshape pros. I know someone can make that decision in a flash - why not just do it, it will be a popular move, we'll love you even more for it. :-) 

3dcad

@brian_medlock

I'm sure 10 documents is not the problem, one document can have multiple tabs and multiple workspaces (versioning -> make branch). This way you can have a lot of stuff in 10 documents.

100mb of private space on the other hand will reach the limit pretty fast, you can 'survive' by taking a copy of document to purge history and reduce size but eventually you need to export or make things public.

there is multiple threads about middle tier and free plan limits:

https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/162/what-is-the-onshape-business-plan-and-roadmap
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1026/what-will-be-the-upcoming-changes-to-the-onshape-free-plan
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1379/is-there-room-for-a-low-cost-plan-in-oshapes-pricing-model
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1414/nitty-gritty-details-of-free-plan
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1559/why-not-a-perk-for-beta-testers
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/1927/enforcement-of-free-plan-limits

philip_thomas

@brian_medlock  - please remember also, that the free plan is designed for amateurs and hobbyists that have no requirements to keep their data private. The free plan provides primarily, unlimited free public documents and 5GB of free online storage. Coupled with the same functionality as the Professional version, this is fantastic deal. The small number of free private documents and small amount of free private storage was intended to allow professional users the ability to evaluate Onshape against a proprietary design need prior to upgrading to Onshape Professional. I hope this clarifies our position.

brian_medlock

Thanks Philip its fully understood and I'm not complaining - its a fantastic product and is the missing link between coming up with an idea or design and actually getting the thing 3D printed. The whole 3D printing industry should applaud you. Just fishing and wishing for a better deal to make the pill easier to swallow, that's all.
Hats off to all at Onshape you are working wonders !!!

michael3424

@brian_medlock - several users have requested an intermediate plan with costs and features somewhere between the two existing plans.  My hope is that at some point in the future, Onshape will be generating sufficient revenue to make such a plan possible in a business sense.   Either that or I start generating enough revenue to make a Pro plan financially viable <g>.

pete_yodis

michael3424 said:

 Either that or I start generating enough revenue to make a Pro plan financially viable <g>.

Sometimes we need to cut the ties, burn a bridge, throw the hammer down, etc... and find ways to throw a target out and swim to it.  A little bit of pain is not a bad motivator.

3dcad

Just to remind middle tier claimers about options:

Quote from email:

Hello,

SolidFace Professional is the most affordable 3D/2D CAD option on the market.

It is fully compatible with SolidWorks®, Solid-Edge®, AutoCad® and others through SIEMENS-Parasolid® core. 
Costing only US$ 39.99/Monthly!

http://www.solidface.com/​

> Communication with other CAD software via standard X_T®, X_B®, DWG®, DXF®, BMP, etc;
> 3D history construction tree and direct command editing;
> Geometric operations and editing through direct entity or feature tree selection
> Parametric and associative geometric construction references such as midpoint, center of arcs and circles, endpoint, etc;
> Definition of parametric variables via commands, questions, or variable tables;
> Logical conditions including If-then-else;
> Parametric generation of bill of materials with associative link with Excel® and Access®.

You can access a free library with 100+ million custom parts direct in SolidFace, all thanks to our partnership with Traceparts!

SolidFace Technology Inc. software’s are risk free investment because it is covered by our unconditional 30-days Money-Back Guarantee.

--------------------------

I gave SolidFace a try about a year ago, it took one night to install, test, disappoint, uninstall, clean registry (this is just my personal opinion).

With exactly same procedure I found Onshape one night and after few months of testing, I moved to Pro plan with intensions to use also as primary cad in my business.
In my opinion Onshape is totally worth $100/month. For everyone. If it's not business, then it's reasonably priced hobby which can eventually grow into business.

adam_mercier

Same here, I use Onshape for a startup business. We are developing new innovative designs that cant be public. The free plan is already very good value, but for now the pro plan price will be about 5% of our annual turnover for the first year. Does our Onshape use offset this cost? Not yet, but it will probably in the next year or so. Also lacking basic sheet drawing is still a big let down for us. I'm still a bit reluctant to commit to Onshape pro without this key feature...
I know Onshape does not have the finnancial power of Autodesk to provide fusion 360 for free for startups, but I think having a intermediate option OR to provide history purge would be a good transition for many users.
Adam

juan_aviles

3dcad said:

In my opinion Onshape is totally worth $100/month. For everyone. If it's not business, then it's reasonably priced hobby which can eventually grow into business.

I'm not 100% on board with that statement, but it is your opinion.  Since OnShape users span the globe, local economies make the $100 a month price tag a different size pill for all of us to swallow.  Yes I agree that for what you get, OnShape is hard to beat, but $100 isn't exactly pocket change for all of us.  

@brian_medlock Remember that you can also suspend your account at any time, and then pick it back up when it's needed again.

michael3424

3dcad said:

In my opinion Onshape is totally worth $100/month. For everyone. If it's not business, then it's reasonably priced hobby which can eventually grow into business.

I'm afraid that is one opinion that is not shared by most hobbyists, quite possibly no hobbyists.  At least not those with average incomes.  

andrew_troup

By the time it launches, it needs to be worth $100 per month.

In many areas, if taken in isolation, it already is ... and in some areas it romps home, but I personally think the "stragglers" need to at least be competitive (in terms of quality and completeness and productivity) with Solidworks circa 2003.

Drawings are the most obvious (and, I'm guessing, challenging) example.

To me it's a bit like a boat anchor when cruising far from home: its value reflects the conditions in which it works least well, rather than those where it shines.

3dcad

juan_aviles said:

I'm not 100% on board with that statement, but it is your opinion.  Since OnShape users span the globe, local economies make the $100 a month price tag a different size pill for all of us to swallow.  Yes I agree that for what you get, OnShape is hard to beat, but $100 isn't exactly pocket change for all of us.  

This is true, if Onshape was coded in say Singapore it would be probably cheaper. But Onshape guys need to buy their food in $ so they need to earn $.  

michael3424 said:

I'm afraid that is one opinion that is not shared by most hobbyists, quite possibly no hobbyists.  At least not those with average incomes.  

I have seen many people with average incomes buying beer and cigarettes everyday - that is something I can't afford; life is about making choices.

Let's forget business for a while, if you wan't to spend time creating 3d models in this fine platform it will cost some serious money. But it is your choice to use professional tools for hobby. It's same thing no matter what hobby, you can play football free in your backyard but if you wan't to do it in stadium it is not free anymore.

If I didn't have business needs for cad, I wouldn't buy pro. But then I wouldn't have problems making my stuff public.

For me Onshape current plans seem very clear.
1. Evaluation with 100mb private space on free plan
2. Hobby use with 5gb public space
3. Professional use with paid plan 

Earlier free plan was too good to be true and as a business man I had difficulties to understand Onshape's business model. Current plans makes sense and I trust them to be around also in future as I see how they cover the costs of those updates we get every few weeks without any additional cost.

I have nothing against hobbyists or free software, this is just my point of view.

nav

3dcad said:

I have nothing against hobbyists or free software.

Neither do I .

What design software did all the hobbyists used before (Blender,sketchup, opensCAD, tinkerCAD,etc) they dont even come close to OS, some are not even mechanical design software. OS is offering a very generous plan for free, a full featured CAD running on the cloud; Fusion 360 does not even come close...Maybe  in their business model are not the hobbyists but high end CAD users,  they want to compete with Solid Works/Solid Edge,these gusts don`t offer a lower price for hobbyists 

3dcad

And if you think of Onshape expenses (development, support, service, hardware) - it is currently exactly the same for free and pro.

Skippy

$100 a month is an enormous amount of money to some of us. I most certainly could not afford it as a hobbyist.

philip_thomas

@Skippy - agreed! We do not want hobbyists to pay us anything!
If you are not creating commercial data, please use the Onshape Free plan that provides unlimited free public documents and 5GB of free online storage.