Why Pixelmator Photo is switching to subscription pricing (and a sneak peek at Pixelmator Photo for Mac)

[adamjd]

I also was initially drawn in because you had a good product and it didn't have a subscription model and had a good product with enough of the features I wanted from PS...that was Pixelmator Classic back around 2014.

When Pixelmator Pro came along and wasn't ready for prime time (dirty font outlines still need some work - but the updates this year have been stellar), I bought that...supporting all your work and your delivery of a great product...and showing that I believe in your team. I always recommend PM Pro. It's been my go-to for image work.

People have had it with subscription models (as tech journalists warned of years ago). I have not found Photos even useful yet because I'm still trying to find a good use for my iPad, I don't want to edit pix on my tiny iPhone screen...and I LOVE Pixelmator Pro. I'm not sure I'll have any use for Photos on my Mac. I certainly wouldn't use it as a plug-in for Photos because I was COMPLETELY burned when Apple dumped iPhotos for Photos - and all of my pics using a plug-in (thousands) had to be reverted to originals! <DEEP BREATH...CONTINUE>
I bought Photos for iOS anyway to support you guys and thinking maybe I'd use it at some point. I would NOT have even given it a try as a subscription.

When I read your blog post, I realized I don't recommend any subscription software. I think it's just a turn-off. I also feel like I'm peddling a pyramid scheme, even though that's not the case. It just feels wrong.

With a paid subscription, your customers aren't locked in...no brand loyalty. Every year they're looking around at competing products out there...looking at competing prices and if there are any amazing features that I'd otherwise go back to the community and suggest adding to Pixelmator apps.

Instead of just criticizing, I'll suggest a couple of ideas:
Maybe ask for voluntary donations when you do major updates:
Send out a message every couple of years saying something like "hey guys....we know you've owned our product and supported us for years and so appreciate that. We've added so many new features like x, y, z that we hope are bringing you more functionality and value. We know everybody is over subscription models, so instead of switching to that model we're trying to see if our user base would be open to doing voluntary donations every couple of years go help keep development going and our community growing."

Maybe charge $5 for a year of being able to post in the community - and give a blue badge or something.

LASTLY: "Now, for some super exciting news – work on Pixelmator Photo for Mac"
TOTALLY not exciting! I'm actually concerned that you're taking time away from Pixelmator Pro to work on something marginally similar.
I thought Photos would work with Pixelmator Pro...which is yet another idea...

Photos could be a lower-cost lead in to get people to buy the flagship Pixelmator Pro...just like iMovie is to FCPx.

[adamjd]

Edit: I read on MacRumors that you'll be offering a "lifetime purchase option." As long as that option remains available, to me this is an acceptable compromise.

1) This should have been in the freakin' blog post, right ...but...

2) Just before I read this, I saw that the lifetime purchase option is $55!?!?!? The BLOG post about the subscription model says "$29.99 puts people off." WT_ do you think $55 does! Ummmm...in the immortal words of Oogie Boogie:

You're joking, you're joking
I can't believe my eyes

[Rotamlexip]

This is why people pirate... so sad. I guess this is a good bye!

[Will098]

It's a sad news but from a business perspective I see why this happens. Keeping a constant cash inflow is important for any company.

But the problem is I don't think the current Pixelmator Photo app is worth the subscription pricing. It is surely a beautifully designed app but it offers no more powerful tools or unique features than a lot of other photo editing apps on the market. I hope the team may consider the question: why should a user subscribe pixelmator photo not other apps? What unique values it provides? I bought the app on the first day it was launched and tbh I dont use it too often because I have so many alternatives on my phone. and pixelmator photo is just one of those photo editing apps. At least I think if it goes to subscription, it better be offering updates on a weekly basis.

As for Pixelmator photo for Mac, from the sneak peek I guess it's just a mac version of what we have on ios? if so, I probably won't buy it. The current Pixelmator pro is already too simple for desktop photo editing. Often I have to bring my project to other more powerful apps for more complicated features. and I don't think a even more simpler desktop app will add too much value to the workflow.

But I still hope the Pixelmator team will figure out a way to both support its operation financially and offer users beautiful, powerful and meaningful apps.

[Mafarax]

I just wanted to buy this app, but the 687% increase from regular $7.99 to $54.99 does not encourage ((

Maybe you will give the last chance to those who want to buy it for lifetime and for 7 days you will set the price let say 100% higher from regular $7,99 to $15,99? I understand your reasons described in the text, but it's such a surprise without notice.

Is Pixelmator for iOS rolling over to subscriptions too? Kind regards, Mafarax.

[Blake]

Was offering a more expensive one-time-purchase along side the subscription considered? Can only speak personally but there's lots of software I love but don't use often enough to justify subscribing but would happily pay a premium to have it even if I don't get the major updates.

[bradywurtz]

just a reminder to everyone making comments here. If you're just as mad about this as I am, do not buy the subscription. it's the only way they won't continue that business model. Sorry Pixelmator, but you're digging your own grave here. The only advantage to using your program is that I don't need to pay monthly for it like everything else in my entire life. I'll keep the version I have, I won't be getting the subscription, and the second I need an update to your program, I'm going with something else. You've lost me.

[Nazar]

People please learn to read. This is Pixelmator PHOTO, not Pro.

Also the idea that they haven’t done their financial due diligence in this decision is ignorant. This decision will help them make more money and avoid losses, otherwise no one would ever offer subscriptions. Considering Pixelmator’s history (I’ve been a customer for about 8 years or so), I’d be shocked if it was expensive in any way. This isn’t going to be creative cloud levels expensive.

These are amazing apps that even as a subscription will be a great deal. I’ve loved it since the original Pixelmator, and I can’t wait to use Pixelmator Photo for Mac.

Edit: a good photo library management UI like Lightroom has would absolutely eliminate any need for me to keep my Lightroom subscription in addition to having Pixelmator apps. Utilizing iCloud storage for this would be perfect imo

[mdturnerinoz]

As a retired software developer of 45 years, I understand the need for "revenue stream" maintenance so R&D can be supported. But, as a retired person, I also understand that continuing costs like subscriptions can become less affordable in retirement; they even can "sneak" up on one, so they are spending more than they had planned to spend, and that can be deleterious to one's finances.

So, I will be staying with Pixelmator Pro, but I am unsure IF I will be subscribing to Pixelmator Photo no matter how good it looks. There are simply too many competitors to Pixelmator who don't charge subscription fees (ie, the old model) to warrant this choice by Pixelmator, IMHO.

[Christian Poulton]

1) This should have been in the freakin' blog post, right ...but...

2) Just before I read this, I saw that the lifetime purchase option is $55!?!?!? The BLOG post about the subscription model says "$29.99 puts people off." WT_ do you think $55 does! Ummmm...in the immortal words of Oogie Boogie:

You're joking, you're joking
I can't believe my eyes

Oh come on now. I went out the other night and had a mediocre curry and a couple of drinks and that cost me upwards of £50. $55 is nothing in the grand scheme of things for a great piece of software.

[Christian Poulton]

People please learn to read. This is Pixelmator PHOTO, not Pro.

Edit: a good photo library management UI like Lightroom has would absolutely eliminate any need for me to keep my Lightroom subscription in addition to having Pixelmator apps. Utilizing iCloud storage for this would be perfect imo

Oh yes, this would be fantastic IMHO! I've been after a replacement for Aperture since Apple ditched it back in 2014

[Christian Poulton]

I've been following this discussion since I posted and it's very similar to the discussion at Cocoatech when they went to a subscription model for Path Finder. Same concerns, same questions, some of which were never answered.

One big one is whether the software stops working if I choose to end my subscription. So is it a rental, where it stops working if I stop paying? Or is it a true subscription where I keep what I've already paid for, but get no new updates or features.

This is a very good question - certainly one of my big concerns with subscription models is what happens if for some reason you can't pay anymore (sh*t happens). Of course if the software continued to be usable but no updates then this could be abused by people jumping on and off the subscription wagon willy-nilly.

[Christian Poulton]

Some random thoughts on the subscription model (from an old guy who has bought software beginning in 1978 for my original Apple II):


6. A better plan is for devs to offer only yearly subs and to allow the app to continue to work but is not updated with either minor or major releases after the sub expires.
7. Some folks love the app but don't use it often enough to justify a subscription. If the app doesn't freeze once the subscription expires, just use it until you find that you need the features that a major release offers, then buy a new yearly sub.
8. All subs for premium software like any of the Pixelmator offerings should be for a year, with the possibility of a month-long trial.

I very much like the sound of this - it should appease the vast majority of people who are against any subscription model but still works from a revenue point of view for the developer? I'd happily pay $60 a year subs in the knowledge that the software would still work if for some reason I needed to drop the subs for a year or more.

[Cuckoo]

$24 annual sub is an AWESOME price. I’ll easily go for that. By how much will it go up after the release?

Videoleap, for example, is $90 for annual, which just feels too steep, so I stay away.
And $165 for one-time purchase, which feels kinda steep too. Even if it’s one of the most professionally made apps. Compare it to Final Cut Pro that costs $299.
I think I (and perhaps other too?) perceive mobile apps as made for leisure, where computer apps are for work. So paying work prices for leisure apps just feels odd.
It’s all about feelings.

[David Haworth]

I’ll join the chorus and say that I’m not a fan of subscriptions at all and would not have bought into Pixelmator if it had a sub. I have too many costs as it is and don’t want to add to them, and I fear that when an app moves to a subscription model, it loses a lot of impetus to create great new features. I’m an existing user so I guess I’d be grandfathered in as such, so I’m not likely to move away from it as long as I get to keep it and get the updates, but I’d not want to start a sub.

Regarding Pixelmator photo for mac, am I right in thinking that although I’d have a lifetime licence for PM photo on ipad, that would not translate to PM photo on mac? I’d need to pay some form of sub to get it?

assuming that is so, it raises the question over whether it has any benefit over Pixelmator pro on the mac? I already have pro so is there a reason why I’d also want photo? Doesn’t pro do everything that photo does and more? As someone who already owns PM Pro, what does photo offer to make me consider subscribing (and get over my natural dislike of the model)? Also, could you not just let us use the ipad version on m1 mac’s directly?

[ShenMue3]

Although I can understand your choice, I’m out. I am living a completely subscription free mindset and you’re losing the usp that made me
switch from Adobe in the first place. I even bought Photo & PP Pro, just to support you, actually I kept using serif products more but I still would have bought your future PP Pro because it was price worthy.
I use a lot of apps and if I would pay a monthly fee for everything, I would be living under a bridge soon.

[derekhandforth]

Look at LuminarAI &Neo. Every time an update is released you have to pay!

[districtrover]

I use Pixelmator Photo exclusively to edit photos on my iPad, strictly as a hobbyist. I bought it for a ridiculously low price of around $5. Given that I use it a lot and have effectively amortized its cost to mere pennies/month, I’d be open to considering a subscription even though avoiding sub fees was the original reason I purchased it. I see I’m grandfathered in for the time being. If that changes, I will consider paying a few dollars/month or some discounted annual fee to keep using it. I have become comfortable with my Pixelmator Photo workflow and I believe you’ve made a reasonable case for the switch to the subscription model. Not saying I like it, but I understand economic realities.

[Lysander]

I own Pixelmator Pro and Photo. Rarely edit on my iPad so Photo is just hanging around.
I see a lot negative reactions from existing Photo users saying they are now quitting using the app because of this change.
Why?

Do existing users need to subscribe to get unlimited access?
If you’ve already bought Pixelmator Photo, you get unlimited access without having to subscribe.

If you have purchased Photo and like using it nothing changes. You can use the app as before with no additional cost.
So why dump it?

[Noise]

I don’t understand people complaining. Everything is moving towards subscription. You pay your favourite “influencers” to have latest content, you buy a game and then buy credits to unlock a car or character, or youtube not to see ads. And here are developers that should please super sensitive customers and give the latest updates just because someone sometime ago purchased an app that costs few dollars… btw, Luminar just announced their subscription plan as well..

[Rob Ell]

First off can we be honest with the nomenclature please. You are not creating a software subscription, you are now intending to rent your software. "Subscribing" is a market-speak spin term purloined to make a bad thing more palatable.

Second, your customer base does not owe you a living. If you cannot create a compelling product at a price point that covers your expenses and profit, you need to adjust your business model accordingly. BTW, no one is forcing you to sell through any Apple store. Since a good portion of your rental rationale comes from issues with their business model impacting your product, move to a different selling method. Many have.

Third, all companies that move to a software rental model become lazy, bloated and complacent. Why? Because you are taking money that you haven't yet earned. It's too easy to push out a feature or pause development as, hey, this months payroll is covered. Without a bit of hunger you will loose focus and commitment. Socialism doesn't work.

Fourth. So now people that rent your software are expected to be beholden to you forever for works they create. You are supplying a tool. The work created with that tool belongs to the user. If the user can no longer access that tool unless they continue to pay, of what value is that for past work that they now would like to modify? Imagine if an artist had to rent a paint brush. The company that rents the brush now controls the final product created with that brush?

So nope. In no way whatsoever is renting software ever a good thing for consumers. This is a bad decision based on lazy entitlement "reasoning". I'm out.

[MATTEMOTTO]

Software needs to be updated to accommodate features of the operating system, in the past, OSes were more stable for longer, no flashy experimental features that need to debugged in real time. And now is not different, it doesn't matter that we are now 7 billion, time constraints work the same, it is just that companies, in this case Apple, made all of us, both users and developers, part of their development lifecycle, now it's common practice to download the beta version of everything, they are basically outsourcing free labor out to millions of users masked as fresh new features, nothing inherently wrong with it, it just feels shoddy — this is all our fault really, Insatiable creatures that want more, newer, different, all the time; who rather have flaky, unreliable and poorly planned features, as long as they are new.

I’m not saying Pixelmator team does that, not at all, in fact, they tend to go the opposite way, by only implementing things that make sense, which is what makes it enjoyable to use, that said, for professional stuff you kind of have to deal with horrible GUIs that get the job done for the most part, that’s why the best tools are on the command line because devs have to worry about functionality and concise interfaces but not cumbersome OS ever-changing graphical conventions.

Also, (speaking from experience) not everywhere is like this, in the film, music and TV industries, so does in a big chunk of AAA games processes, once the production has been laid out, nothing changes, all software and gear from which the main pipeline will depend on, gets frozen in time, they'd go so far as unplug the internet, work solely of intranets, and only install critical updates, for which a whole schedule needs to be set, not after having tested said updates thoroughly on test machines that run off the production’s grid. They even choose gear based on availability and how fixable it is, compatible lenses, standard lights, and so on. 

For a similar scheme that went wrong and pissed an entire industry, look no further John Deere, you might be able to get away by adding absurd subscriptions to a smart home mower, but not farming tools, hell no.  

Adobe doesn't charge that much only because they are greedy bastards (which they are), they do so because they produce industry tools that must work predictably — bugs included — that's why a simple light switch that has certifications to work under certain factory circumstances can be expensive, not because it has some fancy functions, but because of its reliability, and the millionaire lawsuits that come if it fails because consequences can be catastrophic, same goes for Premiere, if it’s to blame for crashing the cluster where the main editors of CNN work.

That's why Apple doesn't change, or charge updates for their professional suite because hell would break loose if they did; a different model, but similar reasons, is not because they care about the indie filmmaker. The last time they did, it took them 10 years to recoup their place in the big leagues.

Curiously, the future appears to be in a mix of FOSS and proprietary, at least for industry affairs. Think Blender, it became so robust that big anime studios are migrating to it because they have both an always fresh and sparkly edge version and a stable release in which companies can rely on, and it also happens to be free. Just like Ubuntu, so much so, that DaVinci Resolve — another industry standard — also runs on Linux stable.

Then there's the freelance market, “Watch out Jimmy, the Gig-economy is eating your father alive, run!” which is where I presume most of the disappointment towards Pixelmator (the company) comes from. Pixelmator tools are gorgeous, and a pleasure to use, but they are certainly not industry standards, and that’s a good thing, I think there are two types of users for indie Mac and iOS apps: The hobbyist with spare cash who enjoys tinkering with their devices, buys all of MacSparky’s tutorials, and goes to bed while listening Viticci latest and greatest on how to use Shortcuts with OmniFocus to save your marriage, this group will most certainly be A-OK with the subscription, or IAPs (there is one for every activity humanity has created, and that’s awesome, we wouldn’t have the thriving community on Raspberry Pi, or crazy LEGO robots without enthusiasts! Will I use LEGOs on a factory? Nah. A Raspberry for load balancing a server rack? Nope. Would I use Shortcuts for creating a server framework to serve upwards of 100,000 users, and waste 1 month of my life? Yes, would I do it again after finding out that it doesn't multithread, just like Keyboard Maestro doesn’t, no, I would definitively not); and then there’s  the Freelancer who works in and out, whose livelihood is errant, It fluctuates along inflation, trends, fashion and demand. One day she might get a fat check, and if she’s been doing this for long enough, there are a couple of things to do immediately, pay the bills, set some cash aside to survive the uncertain future, and finally, invest in some trusty tools that won’t stop working when you have to choose between paying electricity or eating.



Imagine a Trovador, whose guitar stops working in the midst of an economic crisis if he doesn't pay the subscription, now he can’t go out to get some work if he can’t play his guitar. Better yet, imagine an iPhone wedding photographer, the ones that cover the event in real time for social media, whose DAM stops working in the middle of a shooting in Cancun because his card payment failed, he doesn't have internet connection, nor another card, and he can’t even buy a Mexican iTunes gift card because his account is from the UK. Spooky.

I don’t know what’s Pixelmator’s strategy here, I think none of us do, but I’m sure it wasn’t something visceral. I just can’t see where do they fit now, are they competing with Darkroom and Lightroom in the hobbyist space? Or are they shooting at VSCO, I mean that battle is already lost, VSCO is multi-platform (including Android), and it has an entire social movement to back it up, hashtag and all. 

I hear you screaming, “It is only Pixelmator Photo, not Pro!” oh dear, the world will be hard on you.

Perhaps nothing happens, and we are all losing our collective shait over another subscription, or maybe we are, in fact, experiencing the long, and excruciating dead of the Apple tinkering tribe.

Remember when software just existed in its final form and worked as is, and that was that, like a hammer? The manic good Illustrator and Animator Paul Robertson @probzz does, he uses Photoshop 6.0 and Autodesk Animator, a pair of ancient relics that just work. Maybe is an approach problem, we want new stuff to behave like old stuff, and the answer is either to simply use old stuff or make our own stuff.

As for Pixelmator, I feel like my 15 y/o teenager daughter wants to go out with her new friends in a micro-miniskirt, and that’s just how things work nowadays, I wouldn’t stop supporting, or feeding her, but I’d try to put some sense in to her thinking. Good thing I don’t have children, though.

I love your work guys, I really hope this decision doesn’t backfire, and it’s as profitable as you expect. Go team!

[Fish]

By the way, will there be Apple ProRaw support, i mean, a slider that lets you to adjust intensity like Photoshop? I have bunch of nice RAWs from iPhone 12 PRO and would test it out

I’d love to know if this feature is coming too

[Jan T]

I hope that you‘ll be less successful than the last 10 years…
Sorry for that, I know that it sounds hard, but switching to a subscription is painful for every single user who liked the idea of having an app which is really affordable for everyone and quite powerful… It was an absolutely success story back when the original Pixelmator launched on the App Store but I think you stopped that this week… I‘ve read so many negative comments and I can totally agree to them… It‘s such a pity that people are saying „I‘m gonna switch back to Adobe“ (which isn‘t really good in terms of pricing but still better than 4,99 every month without the amazing features of the Cloud etc.)

[iSRS]

I’d like to just say I’ve been using Pixelmator for a long time, a long time. I purchased your app before the days of the Mac App Store. When the MAS was introduced, Pixelmator was the first app I bought, as I wanted to support the model, and love the app and wanted to continue updates. I buy every app you release.

I don’t use Photos on my iPad very much. So torn on the subscription. $24/year isn’t bad. It may be that it is better suited to the Mac for my purposes. Did I miss it or have you not released/decided the subscription rate for existing paid users so we can get the Mac version as well?