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BricsCAD V19 promo pricing ends 15 December

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I’ve previously explained the changes to BricsCAD pricing that came in with V19, and showed how the prices for new purchases would rise when the promotional period ends.

Upgrading now requires All-In. Problem?

One change I failed to point out, but which was mentioned by a commenter, was that for customers not already on the All-In Maintenance program, they needed to sign up for one year’s All-In in addition to paying the upgrade fee. This meant the upgrade fee was significantly greater than in previous years because customers were effectively paying for two upgrades (e.g. V18 to V19 as an upgrade, plus V19 to V20 covered by All-In).

Although this still represented good value compared with the competition and recent BricsCAD upgrades have proven to be well worth the money, there was still a ‘sticker shock’ effect associated with this double payment, and people who budgeted for upgrades based on previous pricing found themselves in a bind. There were complaints from customers and partners. For Bricsys, accustomed to being the good guys in terms of CAD pricing and licensing fairness, this was an unusual situation.

Fixing the problem

On 16 November, Bricsys responded to this feedback by introducing significantly reduced prices in this scenario, and committing to making good with those customers who already paid the higher prices. How significantly reduced? About half. To give you an idea, an upgrade of BricsCAD Pro V18 to V19 (and later to V20 thanks to All-In) is about US$425 or €400.

I don’t see much to complain about there. It’s great to see a company that actually listens to its customers and acts accordingly, even when doing so costs real money.

However, it’s important to note that this lower upgrade pricing only applies during the promotional period that had already been announced for new license pricing. That period ends on 15 December (i.e. prices go up from 16 December). To make things very plain, at the time of writing:

BricsCAD promotional pricing for both upgrades and new purchases will end in two days.

This only affects on-demand upgraders

None of the above has any effect on customers who were already on the All-In program. That program has always represented the best value way of keeping BricsCAD up to date; I recommend getting on it and staying on it. You can of course hop off it in the future if Bricsys one day fails to keep you happy with its upgrades. Although you’re effectively paying for upgrades in advance it’s still a perpetual license system, which gives you the ability to keep playing even when you stop paying.

There is also the option of the rarely-used subscription (rental) pricing for those cases where licenses are not needed long-term or need to be assigned to a specific project. Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with my thoughts on that licensing model. If you need it, fine. If you don’t, you shouldn’t be strong-armed into adopting it.

Perspective

Bear in mind that with all this talk of rising prices, a little perspective is useful. Based on currently-available pricing, the 3-year cost of BricsCAD Pro including All-In in the USA is $1615, compared with $4605 for AutoCAD on subscription. At the end of the 3 years, you will have a perpetual license of the then-current version of BricsCAD Pro, or you will have nothing at all if you had spent 2.85 times as much to rent AutoCAD.

If you look beyond 3 years (and some customers of mine have AutoCAD licenses ten times that age) then the difference in the value proposition between the products becomes even more dramatic. You’re all smart people with calculators and spreadsheets, so I invite you to do your own comparisons.

Reminder: if you want to get the absolute best value for money from a BricsCAD purchase, remember to do it on or before 15 December. If you do decide to buy, and also want to support this blog, then please use this link to do so:

Bricsys Store

Disclosure: this is a sponsored link. If you buy a Bricsys product using this link, I get part of the proceeds. However, this will not have any effect on the editorial content of this blog. I don’t expect to be able to retire on the proceeds from this link (if any) and I will continue to write what I honestly think about the CAD products and policies of all companies, as I see fit.

BricsCAD V19 – pricing changes explained

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The BricsCAD V19 release has not only given us a new software release (an excellent one – and I’ll be writing about that later), it’s also given us a new Bricsys website and a new pricing structure. In some cases prices are actually slightly lower, but in the vast majority of cases the movement is up. The price movement varies by product, market and currency, and depends largely on whether you choose to opt for All-in Maintenance. The aim of this post is to clarify exactly what has happened to Bricsys prices.

One significant change across the board is the way All-in Maintenance is priced. It was previously a fixed amount (e.g. US$220) to pre-emptively keep up to date with each of the three BricsCAD types (Classic, Pro and Platinum). Now it’s a percentage (e.g. 30%), which means All-in is now cheaper than it was for Classic users and more expensive for everyone else.

You’ll also note that the rarely-used subscription (rental) pricing is now much easier to find on the web site. The annual cost equates to about 40% of the cost of a perpetual license.

Those 30% and 40% figures look high, but remember that they’re a percentage of much smaller sums than you get with Autodesk. For example, the difference between buying BricsCAD Pro with and without All-in is US$255. Going Subscription (rental) for a year is $488. For comparison, keeping an old perpetual AutoCAD license up to date is in the region of US$500+ (it varies considerably under different circumstances) and the current annual AutoCAD subscription cost in the USA is US$1575 (bear in mind that this now includes access to various AutoCAD-based verticals).

Let’s compare the BricsCAD prices before and after these changes. First, US$ prices without All-in. Note that none of these prices include taxes.

US$ BricsCAD Classic BricsCAD Pro BricsCAD Platinum BricsCAD BIM BricsCAD Mechanical
V18 590 750 1110 1760 1630
V19 590 770 1110 1720 1630

As you can see, there is very little price movement at all here. Note that these V19 prices are promotional, which means they won’t stay at this level for ever. (Edit: the promotional prices apply until 16 December 2018).

The Euro prices have moved up a little more:

Euro BricsCAD Classic BricsCAD Pro BricsCAD Platinum BricsCAD BIM BricsCAD Mechanical
V18 480 640 990 1540 1440
V19 525 725 1050 1590 1500

A more useful comparison can be made by comparing the prices including All-in, because (temporary conditions excepted) this is the cheapest way of keeping up to date, and the way I’d usually recommend paying for BricsCAD. I’ve included the post-promotion prices here so you can get an idea of the total movement.

US$ BricsCAD Classic BricsCAD Pro BricsCAD Platinum BricsCAD BIM BricsCAD Mechanical
V18 810 970 1330 2100 1940
V19 (Promotion) 781 1025 1470 2275 2155
V19 (Standard) 825 1105 1560 2405 2275

Here’s the same thing in Euros:

Euro BricsCAD Classic BricsCAD Pro BricsCAD Platinum BricsCAD BIM BricsCAD Mechanical
V18 680 840 1190 1840 1720
V19 (Promotion) 701 965 1391 2115 1995
V19 (Standard) 760 1040 1475 2275 2145

The upshot is that for most customers, buying and maintaining the low-end Classic product is slightly cheaper than it was, but as you move up the product range, the price increases start to bite. However, the total cost of ownership is still significantly lower than AutoCAD. The following table shows the total licensing costs over several time periods, assuming no price increases from anybody. Yes, I know that’s not a reasonable assumption, but at least it precludes guesswork! The ongoing annual All-in price is assumed to be 30% of the non-promotional product cost.

US$ 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year
BricsCAD Classic (All-in) 781 1276 1771 3009
BricsCAD Pro (All-in) 1025 1688 2351 4009
BricsCAD Platinum (All-in) 1470 2406 3342 5682
BricsCAD Classic (Subscription) 312 936 1560 3120
BricsCAD Pro (Subscription) 410 1230 2050 4100
BricsCAD Platinum (Subscription) 588 1764 2940 5880
AutoCAD (subscription) 1575 4725 7875 15750
AutoCAD LT* (subscription) 390 1170 1950 3900

* Note that I have included AutoCAD LT here for comparison even though it is a significantly less capable product than BricsCAD Classic, which has 3D and full LISP capabilities.

In addition, BricsCAD Platinum plus Sheet Metal is now called BricsCAD Mechanical, with the price including All-in going from US$1940 to US$2155 ($2275 after promotion). Euro prices go from €1720 to €1995 (€2145 after promotion). Similarly, BricsCAD Platinum plus BIM is now called BricsCAD BIM, with the price including All-in going from US$2100 to US$2275 ($2405 after promotion). Euro prices go from €1840 to €2115 (€2275 after promotion).

It’s worth noting that the price of Communicator, the Bricsys format translator, has dropped slightly in most cases despite providing more format translation options.

If you intend buying a Bricsys product and also want to support this blog, then please use this link:

Bricsys Store

Disclosure: this is a sponsored link. If you buy a Bricsys product using this link, I get part of the proceeds. However, this will not have any effect on the editorial content of this blog. I don’t expect to be able to retire on the proceeds from this link (if any) and I will continue to write what I honestly think about the CAD products and policies of all companies, as I see fit.

BricsCAD price rise imminent

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BricsCAD V19, which is expected to be released within days, will bring with it new, higher pricing. It still won’t be anything like Autodesk-level high, of course, but will be a bit higher than it was.

Bricsys is currently offering new buyers of V18 an automatic upgrade to V19 (the serial number will just work for both). What this means is that you don’t need to pay for All-in Maintenance to keep up to date in the first year. You’re therefore saving twice: by avoiding the price hike and by not needing to add about US$220 for All-in. You can add All-in later, or optionally pay for upgrades as you see fit. If you do decide to upgrade later, you will be expected to sign up for All-in at that time, so there will be a catch-up cost associated with that.

Upshot: if you’re going to buy new BricsCAD licenses, be quick. Do it now. Next week might be too late.


If you intend doing this and also want to support this blog, then please use this link:

Bricsys Store

Disclosure: this is a sponsored link. If you buy a Bricsys product using this link, I get part of the proceeds. However, this will not have any effect on the editorial content of this blog. I don’t expect to be able to retire on the proceeds from this link (if any) and I will continue to write what I honestly think about the CAD products and policies of all companies, as I see fit.