BackupBuddy Gold and unlimited updates

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Written By Travis Northcutt

12 thoughts on “BackupBuddy Gold and unlimited updates”

  1. I like the old fashioned software pricing. Charge a price, offer .x upgrades for free and and upgrade price for x. upgrades. In addition, offer tiered support.
    While it is more complicated it is also more simple because the customer knows what’s being purchased.
    Other ideas involve undefined risk. While my idea has some risk, if the developer screws the users there will be no income stream.

    • With BackupBuddy’s pricing (and with other plugins with similar pricing models of e.g. one year of upgrades + support), does the customer somehow not know what’s being purchased?

      The risk for the customer with “minor” upgrades for free (.x versions) and “major” upgrades (x.0 versions) being a new cost is that what is minor and what is major is often very subjective. What if you pay for a plugin in May, and the next month, a new major version is released? Sure, you might get a discount on the upgrade, but if you’d only waited a month, you could have gotten nearly the same thing for a lot less.

      By contrast, with yearly pricing, if you pay in May, and a new major version is released in June, you get full access to that, and don’t need to pay again until the next May.

    • The model used for other types of software where you provide .x upgrades but not new versions simply isn’t ideal for WordPress plugins.

      In our case, Gravity Forms, is just like WordPress. It’s constantly evolving. It’s never “done”. It’s not like a publicly released version of Photoshop from back in the day when you were limited to releasing software via DVD, CD’s, and before that disks. This isn’t boxed software.

      Managing multiple branches, which is effectively what you’d be doing, would be a logistical nightmare.

      It’s the same reason WordPress doesn’t release updates for WordPress v3.8.x after WordPress v3.9 is released. It’s simply not the way software designed to power web sites is designed.

      When WordPress makes changes or implements features it can necessitate changes in Gravity Forms. There is no way in hell we’d go back and update all prior feature releases of Gravity Forms each time a WordPress update occurred.

      We don’t look back. We only look forward. We tackle development on Gravity Forms as if it were a hosted web based app. It’s constantly evolving. We don’t have time to worry about updating old versions and creating a branching nightmare. No thanks.

      Once upon a time that worked. But now even companies like Adobe and Microsoft tackle things this way with there subscriptions to Photoshop and Office that means it’s users get updates and features and there support team isn’t supporting numerous branch versions of the product.

      Most WordPress theme and plugin development companies are small-medium business that need to be very agile and the old way of selling and supporting software simply doesn’t meet that criteria.

  2. I agree with your points. But there is a clear risk reward relationship. I started buying software in ’86. I have learned that good developers develop relationships with users and bad ones don’t. And eventually software becomes outdated. I have rarely been burned by a software purchase before an upgrade. Usually they offer a generous free upgrade date.

  3. I’ve been a long time customer of BackupBuddy. I would disagree that most problems are in the first year. I generally see a spike in backup related problems after major updates.

    I would like to know if they have any plans to offer purchased support after a year.

    I have no problem buying premium plugins, developers should be paid for their work. But the reason I buy premium products is specifically for support. I spend a lot of time troubleshooting on my own so I don’t use it often, but when I need it…I need it.

    If your selling a plugin I believe support in some form should be made available. Even if paid. If your making money from your development, the flip side of deserving to get paid is you have an obligation to offer support in some form.

    And when I saw Gold lifetime offer, I have to admit my immediate reaction was “red-flag”. WordPress is continuing to grow as a platform so potential customers should be growing. Considering this is a flagship product this move doesn’t make sense to me if you plan to be around long term.

    • Well put, Sandra. I’m having the same thoughts. One other person and I have asked the same question over on Cory Miller’s post linked above. I hope we’ll get an answer soon,

  4. Travis, thanks for taking the time to take a balanced, fair, honest look at what we’re doing with BackupBuddy Gold and potential upsides and downsides.

    We fully agree with you there are potential pain points and problems … and additionally, it’s not for everyone.

    Re: the comments asked here and on my blog about support pricing after the one year, we’re working on that and will get back to you on it.

  5. Thanks, Mark …

    Yes, after some thought, this is the best option. BackupBuddy 2 site, 10-site and Unlimited plans include support with upgrades.

    The best option for those anticipating needing support is simply to renew. We offer discounts on those renewals.

    It should also be noted that we’re doing a limited time discount on BackupBuddy Gold, but it’s not going away anytime soon (at least that I can predict!).

    Hope this helps.

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