RapidWeaver Elements Pricing Poll

Elements
41

As it sits, it doesn’t fully fulfill my needs, thus paying a high price for it means I’ll just sit out until it does. Given that Elements is missing Blogs, I think that trying to price it very high is going to not work. I also think you need to be careful, because pricing it too high means less external developer new element support.

My suggestion: substantive discount for current RW owners, but for others price it like a complete package (one of your higher prices), but only expect to get that if you fill in the missing element blanks quickly (or can promise to do so).

42

Agree needs a blog and a form

The editor should pop out full screen

25% off current copy of Rapidweaver?

43

What new user is going to use RW Classic when there is Elements?

44

I bought RW Classic many versions ago and never used it. To make it usable, fo me, I would have had to buy numerous add-ons that I just felt should have been part of the app or lower priced.

Now we have Elelements. Out of the box, if everything demo’d makes it to the final release, I will get add-ons as I need them - a cart, maybe some kind of commenting framework. But I will be bummed if those add-ons are over $50 each.

I will be making websites for myself and non-profits. If add-ons are over $100 I simply can’t afford that and will look for other solutions by making pages that are built using Elements for the layout but the back-end will be some other solution. If that won’t work I will still buy Elements, if it’s around $200 purely because of their dedication I have witnessed. But I may have to go back to, sigh, WP because it has both free and paid add-ons. I have paid for many in the past but I don’t think I ever paid over $25 for any WP add-on. And, of course, WP is free.

RealMac just needs to get their user numbers up so that more people use it and then get developers building extra-cool stuff for it. I live in hope and I am in love with their openness and commitments during the last few months. I’m sure they have always been like that but I lost interest in the past because you had to get so many add-ons with their developer’s own idea of what an interface is.

I’m sure Realmac is familiar with ye olde Apple Human Interface Guidelines manual or whatever, if at all, it is these days. Back then you could open up any Mac app and get a hang of it very quickly because the developer knew what was expected of it regarding UI. These days it’s not evident that developers follow those guidelines and it’s a shame. But I get it - things change and UI elements have grown exponentially.

Lez

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45

I make reference to the ones with many stacks in stock, not new ones without anything.

46

Totally needs this, it should be on par with Classic. I believe the upgrade is the UI and WYSIWYG.

Agreed.

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47

id pay if it means I dont have to buy stacks and foundry add ons but not if it means paying way over the top. as I already have classic, foundry and stacks and a few others I would stick with those if elements is to expensive…allso is it going to be a one off or subscription based yearly

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48

A carpenter will need to buy tools regularly, a driving instructor will need to buy a new car regularly. Buying your tools–f-the-trade comes with the job. Especially if you’re using RapidWeaver to sell webdesigns to clients.

Depending on your use case, RapidWeaver Classic can be a perfect fit out of the box, or requires a few third-party plugins to get it to that level.

Out of the box, RapidWeaver (Classic) can build a good looking website, containing a blog, contact form, photo gallery and a file sharing/downloads page. The included themes are (mostly) good fits for the average beginner.

If you’re planning to sell your designs to others, then yes - you’re going to need to invest in plugins. That’s because clients always have a wish or two that RapidWeaver can’t do (or the themes you have can’t do). Those wishes can range from “can you shift that button like an inch to the right?)” to “I want my site to look exactly like Apple’s!”.

Stacks is one way to go - coding your own themes is another. Both will require you to invest (either by buying third party plugins or invest in time to code out a new theme). But you can at least get the job done (which can’t be said for Website-as-a-service-providers like Squarespace).

Even on the “free” Wordpress you’ll quickly look at paid-for third party extensions when trying to figure out how to comply with your clients’ wishes. And those plugins often come with a per-domain license, requiring you to repurchase them for every new client.

With Elements, this will be more-or-less the same. Layouts are pretty much covered with Elements judging by the videos, but knowing lcients, they’ll have wishes that will require a purchase from your end. you already mention carts, but I think some kind of database/CSV-integration, a CMS, automated gallery and a good expansive form solution will be among my first third party purchases once I roll out Elements here.

It’s all part of the fun! I don’t mind buying stacks (and elements in the future) if it saves me time and gets the client what they’d like to see. Part of the invoice I send them is to cover the cost of constantly buying tooling. And if it’s a very specific wish that the client has, I might even forward the cost of that specific stack or plugin 100% into their invoice (as I’m notl ikely to ever use it again for another client).

Cheers,
Erwin

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49

Provue has the best software and the best pricing scheme. If you don’t use it, then you don’t have to pay for it. Simple and honest and you always have the latest version whenever you turn it on. I think under one hour of usage it doesn’t charge you at all.

50

I have half written a response several times and not posted it. I am happy with RW Classic, Stacks and a few themes. As long as they work I see no need to upgrade or begin a new learning curve. I would probably still be using RW6 if my mac had not died. I have no evidence other than this forum but I imagine that the majority of users are like me, doing stuff for fun, for family, for personal business and not for profit.

Am happy with the current RMS pay philosophy. You buy the software and if you want to keep it up to date you need to pay an annual sub for updates. I no longer have Adobe on my computer because I don’t want to pay an annual sub, I want to own the stuff on my computer, not rent it. I do miss PhotoShop Elements and PDF edit capability but I am prone to cut off my nose to spite my face, if that translates well.

Not sure about the pricing point but if a lot of people are like me then it won’t be enough to rely on existing RMS users to move from RW to Elements, it will require Elements to pull in completely new users to RMS.

51

I jumped in on the RW bandwagon at version 6. I’m a musician/entertainer so not a pro developer. I’ve dabbled at coding with the intention to do a few projects for pay on the side, and even make templates to sell on the Marketplace, but it never worked out for me in reality. I love RW and have also invested in each version of Stacks, Foundry (from its beginning through V3), Potion Pack, Thunder Pack, Alloy, and a good handful of other 3rd party stacks. I’m excited when I see the feature set for Elements, but I REALLY need the blog capability so my websites aren’t primarily static. I vote for a price point under $100 that includes the blog and form. I’m depending on Adam at Elixir to continue to provide the extra’s that go beyond what Elements ships with. I’m trying to keep up with cool software that empowers me and lets my creativity flourish. I’ll stay with Realmac because they’ve always kept me excited for each new release. I DO hope however, that I can afford to have the basic functionality I need… until the 3rd party developers can get up to speed and offer even more sweeteners to the experience.

2 Likes
52

Question… Are the suggested prices in US dollars? If so, then $149 equates to $225 Aussie dollars. That is a lot of money for software, especially as the starting price. Compare that to other prices for software:
Pixelmator Pro $80 or Final Cut Pro $300.
I am thinking a price point similar to the price of Classic is a good start. Also, it would be nice to get upgrade pricing. I have been a RW user since Ver3.
I have bought every version since. I would love to buy elements when it is available. Pricing is definitely a key factor in that decision.

53

Yep the price is in US dollars. They’ve always been as long as I can remember.

54

I’ve used Rapidweaver for longer than I can remember but barely in the past 5 years. It needed too many add-ons for what we wanted to do. We love the look of Elements but want it without the hassle of 3rd parties (we’ve had sites where plugins simply stopped being developed requiring total rebuilds of pages.). Rapidweaver became unviable because of cost and, in comparison to the WYSIWYG of Elements, the interface is horrible.

For new users, Elements’ competition isn’t RW Classic with a bunch of stacks, it’s Wordpress or any other free CMS. For $5 AUD a month I can get SSD hosting with one click installs and for $50 I can get incredibly beautiful, detailed and customisable themes. It’s also ubiquitous - simple to find someone to help if you get stuck.

As a few others have said, subscriptions are a no-go for me. Elements is a discretionary purchase for us and I’ll only pay subscriptions for absolute necessities (eg. Adobe - we’re a publishing company).

Ideally I’d like to see it the same price as RW Classic and be a one-time purchase (based on major versions). An upgrade from RW to Elements would be nice but I can live without it. As another Aussie said, it translates to @ $225 AUD for us and that put’s it in a fairly high level of the market (given I bought the entire Affinity suite on special for $79 AUD).

Price it as you need to be sustainable. The market will determine if it’s good value.

Edit to add, we wouldn’t be averse to a subscription plan which included hosting. It could be managed really well in the app with ‘one click updates’, backups etc and would eliminate the need for people to pay for hosting elsewhere. Just a thought.

1 Like
55

Technically, this is the model they have hinted at. If you run past the 1-year date, you can still use it. Just don’t pay again until the next major update occurs. It will be up to Realmac to keep the updates flowing if they want a revenue stream.

In the event an OS upgrade breaks the app, the 1-year period has passed, and no major upgrade warrants a paid purchase, then Realmac will likely lose the user, probably permanently.

So hopefully, free enterprise will win and everyone will do their part. Realmac has an opportunity and a window. I really hope they don’t blow it by being impatient with making money or lax with releasing updates.

56

You are right that when people first got/get Rapidweaver their total investment might end up being $350+. However, it was not up front. That total investment came over time depending on the needs and resources of the user. Setting that kind of bar up front means many will never join the Realmac family.

57

Wordpress gets too complex and expensive to do anything other than basic stuff, plus it’s a security headache, not to mention you can’t use it unless you have an internet connection. (I know that sounds strange but there are times where I’m somewhere without a connection but I can still work on my websites locally with RW.) Squarespace and similar solutions are an absolute no go for me because they’re subscriptions; you stop paying them and your site is held hostage so you can’t use it anywhere else because it’s proprietary and tied to their hosting. Professional web designers generally do not want all their eggs in one code/hosting basket.

58

I agree.

When does the poll end, is the curtain about to open with the inital reveal ?

59

Sorry but I disagree. It’s no harder to learn than RW Classic and once you have the basic skills you can build very expansive sites (our current site is over 110 Gb and hundreds of thousands of posts). Hosting is cheap and most hosts will look after security and backup. There’s a reason it’s the most used platform on the web, from one person bloggers to major news corporations.

However, my point is not to push the virtues of Wordpress, it’s to make the point the average person can start for free with a widely known product and if Elements is priced too high they won’t get a look in.

I’ve loved watching the progress of Elements and I’m seriously keen to give it a run, but I’m also aware of the alternatives and appreciate how sensitive users are to price. If its feature set is lacking (sounds like blogs aren’t there) that makes it a harder sell.

5 Likes
60

I agree mostly. However, I don’t think that Wordpress in its natural form is the threat to Elements. I think it is tools like Relume and Sigma that use the Wordpress platform and add huge features on top. BTW…I think that the GenAI tech is really going to be a threat to the template builders. I think there are going to be real designers making designs and those that copy most, if not all, of the look/feel by simply using a GenAI tool to copy that with their own modifications.

I am 100% with you on the current lack of blogging features. I do understand that Realmac has to ship and that building a quality CMS is not easy. Yes, they could have just tried to shoe in the very limited one from Rapidweaver, but it honestly sucks. Which is why stacks like Workman’s Total CMS are so popular. However, it is going to be a needed feature…just like a powerful implementation of GenAI. Unfortunately neither can be ignored.

Thankfully, GenAI tools will also be available to Realmac that should help in the coding.

If I may be so bold as to give uninvited advice to Realmac, start up a private chat channel with respected people to start putting together a next generation blogging component for blogging.

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