New Pricing

Apr 3, 2023 | Written byCameron McEfee

Starting today, GuideGuide uses a pay what you want subscription model. There are three tiers of varying cost, all of which are billed annually, have identical benefits, and come with a suggestion of how I personally intend for you to self-select which tier is right for you. All tiers apply to a license for one person, which can be used on unlimited devices.

• $9/year (The Expert) is intended for people that will use GuideGuide in only one app.
• $19/year (The Polymath) is intended for people that will use GuideGuide in multiple apps.
• $39/year (The Benefactor) is intended for people that want to support GuideGuide and my other projects.

The actual cost difference depends on what you compare, but overall, these new tiers cost less and align better with the direction I want to take GuideGuide over the coming years.

While I have lingering nerves about charging less for something that is my primary source of income, I tested this new pricing throughout the last month and I’m hopeful that the increased growth will outweigh the individual decrease in profit.

What this means for existing customers

I always aim to treat customers appropriately by providing a fair price, minimal disruption, and good support. Unfortunately, making a change like this has a lot of logistical complexity that makes balancing those three goals tricky.

I’ve decided that the most straightforward way to handle this transition is to keep existing customers grandfathered into their current plans. However, anyone on a legacy plan may contact me to be switched to one of the new plans. All changes will apply to the next billing cycle.

How to be mad

Any time software changes, especially related to money, people get mad. Here’s a helpful guide for how to be mad, productively.

• I’m mad because I bought GuideGuide yesterday.
  No worries, if you contact support I can help you out.

• I’m mad because the new tiers are cheaper than the one I’m on.
  You can contact support to move to a new tier!

• I’m mad because you didn’t change my tier automatically.
  I get it, but automatic changes would have made more people mad differently. You can still contact support to move to a new tier.

What to be excited about

If you’re following along with the beta, GuideGuide for InDesign is launching later this month. It — along with native M1 Mac support and the first update to Grid Notation since it was released — should more than make up for the frustration you feel at being able to spend less money than before to use them.