RapidWeaver Elements Pricing Update

Hi @DaveMac, were you after a Pro license? If so I have some great news for you, the price hasn’t changed and you can purchase a copy here Elements Website Builder for Mac.

Elements was in public beta but entered early access earlier this year. You can read about that here Dev Diary Ep65 - Elements is now in Early Access

Hope that helps :victory_hand:

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Wow, based on my experience with Elements, it is WAY faster to build a website with Elements than the Classic/Stacks combo. But more importantly is is WAY more user friendly and intuitive.

It pains me to have to go back and use Classic/Stacks.

I have just been forced to create a brand new site from scratch with Elements and it was incredible how fast it came together, and it ended up looking good to boot.

I’m now in the process of porting a site from Classic to Elements and it has taken an amazingly short amount of time.

The last thing I would call Classic/Stacks compared to Elements, is user friendly!

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RealMac is practically the opposite of Adobe in so many ways. If you just look at webdesign Adobe screwed up in this area so many times. Particularly when they bought out and proceeded to run the biggest webdesign company, Macromedia, into the ground. How does a company take the most advanced webdesign tech and manage to destroy all of it?

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I wasn’t talking about the performance of the respective apps. I was talking about the marketing policies and how both companies seem to have lost a clear view of their customers. Do yourself a favor and search for Adobe on YouTube. You will find hundreds of videos of disappointed customers.
Oh, and while we are at: the new stacks app will not be on a subscription basis. Isaiah doesn’t like subscriptions. Me neither.

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I’m familiar with Adobe. I’ve shelled out thousand of dollars for their software packages and found that some titles being far buggier then the current version of elements 0.7. The difference is that Realmac are upfront and honest that the program is a beta where Adobe tried to sell it as if it was a finished product.

With Fireworks Adobe even held back bugfixes so that they could include those in a paid update and not offer them in a timely patch. I don’t see any comparison between these companies.

Aware that people have long been able to buy a private beta and now continue to buy early access of a pre v1 dot version. Was comparatively speaking of actual v1 release and public trial. You know try before you buy.

Was declared recently the blog features will be additional cost for online editing, no doubt then additional features down the road will also meet this same fate. Prices are already increasing for a product you have long since had the overall vision and roadmap for when you decided upon the original prices.

Unless those original prices and the original app were set to be sparse without these obvious feature progressions as you reach towards v1. So would it still have been called the best mac app? The logic does not equate.

Spin it and explain it however you like. Or just state directly that we need to be naive. :joy:

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You’re missing the point.
I wasn’t talking about the quality of the product. I was referring to the marketing policies.

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I understand where your frustration is coming from.

The early access pricing was always meant to reflect the fact that Elements was (and still is) in active development. As we’ve added more features and moved closer to 1.0, the price has gradually aligned with the scope of what Elements offers today. We didn’t plan to add so much, but based on the requests from users, we’ve just continued building and adding features. It already does so much more than we had initially planned.

We’re not asking anyone to be naive. Just open to the reality that building and supporting pro-level Mac software takes resources. We’re trying to do it transparently, and in a way that respects both new users and long-time supporters.

Always happy to listen (even when it’s tough).

Thanks again for sharing, and have a great weekend!

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I think the biggest complaint is that no single feature is solid and complete. There are a lot of unfinished edges and incomplete “works-in-progress,” ie: blog, pre-made components, templates, etc. When it’s done, stable, and super bug free, “selling” this price hike will be a much easier pill to swallow. A bit too soon, especially if completing everything as you said and releasing v1 at the end of the month actually happens. At that point it would have almost felt natural to say the early bird promotion was over. Just my opinion.

Simple question…
is this a true grandfather clause?
Are early adopters guaranteed never to see a price increase… ever?

Glad you asked!

While no business can guarantee prices will never change, I can tell you that we have no plans to increase pricing. And more importantly, anyone who signs up during this early access period will always be looked after. :blush:

We genuinely appreciate all the support we’ve received so far, and we’re in this for the long haul. Our goal is to build a sustainable business that takes care of both our team and our customers for the next 20 years.

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I don’t know about RWClassic being more user friendly.

Sure, Elements comes with a learning curve, especially if you didn’t use Stacks before on RWClassic.

But getting your site the way YOU want it to look, is no small feat in RWClassic, and is a lot easier in Elements.

If it’s themes you’re referring to, I have a feeling ready-made Elements projects will replace themes, so the entry point for those that just want to fill in their stories in a ready-made layout will still be possible.

Cheers,
Erwin

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No, we decided not to lock down components based on license, so form webhooks are now available to everyone :blush:

Absolutely, we hope to make this process available in-app at some point, but for now, just email support when you’re ready to make the change!

That’s very encouraging to hear, and it’s how we’ve felt for a while now. Once you start using Elements, there’s no going back to the old way :flexed_biceps:

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Wow, as a software developer myself, I am pretty astonished at the petty gripes being generated by a few. Statements like “When it’s done, stable, and super bug free” screams how naive you already are. No software is ever “done or bug free” by the very nature of beast. I would like to see you message or email Adobe and get a response back in 24 hours -if ever -not just from a support person in India reading from a script, or a bot, but from the actual developer himself who listens/responds and incorporates most of the user’s wishes. Which by the way influences how long development takes and in the end gives the users a better product than originally planned when the price was first determined.

So a $30 increase to new users for the most common license (Plus) is enough to generate outrage? From what I see, everyone here went in with eyes wide open and I for one appreciate how much time Dan put into the weekly updates, demos and replies in spite of the £millions he has made on Elements so far.

But of course, Dan should have known precisely how long and costly it should have been from the beginning even knowing he would have to respond and incorporate the wishes of the very users who kept his company alive and got absolutely nothing in return. Well, nothing that is, except for the software they actually paid for… but still!

But now, ‘In your head, in your head They are cryin’ (another Cranberries reference)

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Is Elements good enough to publish websites now or are most users just testing it?

Yes! We think Elements is more than ready for full-time use, and plenty of customers are publishing live websites with it (us included).

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As a long time RW user, I did not know what to do. Stay with RW classic, or give Elements a try. I go for the last. It’s always fun to try something new.

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Exactly, I think you’ll love Elements. And if you do get stuck, just post here on the forum and we’ll help you out :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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If I lock in the base price of $59 now does that allow an upgrade to the current plus price of $119 later?

No, it will only be for the plan you’re on when the price change happens.