SGP going subscription

[Davey-T]

Just when I was thinking of making more effort to use SGP for which I have a paid for version they decide to follow Photoshop and change to a subscription model, at least it's not monthly but don't think I'll bother now.

Dave

Edited September 21, 2020 by Davey-T

[david_taurus83]

Nina is free.

[Viktiste]

I can understand software developers need to make a profit , but from my consumer point of view it becomes economically unmanageable if all the software I use should be paid on a subscription basis. So I by principle don't buy any subscription based software. Period. I am happy to pay a one time price/fee for all the things I decide to buy in my life, but I refuse to pay a subscription fee to use my car, telescope, oven, paintbrushes or any software that I have bought. Sadly this is the way most software companies are headed. 

 

+1 for NINA

 

Edited September 22, 2020 by Viktiste

[bottletopburly]

I think they will find a lot of customers jumping ship at $59 yearly  when there is very good other free software available such as NINA , personally I use APT  which has a very reasonable fee of about £6 which gives you any updates for the next year which is a fair fee .

[SamAndrew]

I must have missed the email, had to have a look at their forum to see what the deal was for existing customers:

Starting with the not yet released version 4, the yearly subscription will be $59 and if you already own version 3 then the initial cost of $149 has been waived. If you already own version 3 you can continue to use it forever without any cost and will still receive updates for version 3. It is also my understanding that if you own version 3 then the initial cost to upgrade to version 4 (when released) has been waived, and you will just need to pay the subscription fee of $59.

[adyj1]

Just to add further info (so you don't have to go look at the SGP website like I did 😉), if you aren't upgrading from a previous version then it is $149.00 up front then $59.00 / year. 

 

[mikeyj1]

I've been using APT (also subscription, but a lot less!) and more recently SGP.  Have to say SGP is outstanding, and as I had already purchased it at v3.x last year, (@$99) I can carry on with that Ad-infinitum, or move to the sub model for $10 and the sub... makes it a bit less painful i think.. but I won't be doing that until i need to that's for sure..!

Mike

[adyj1]

11 hours ago, adyj1 said:

Just to add further info (so you don't have to go look at the SGP website like I did 😉), if you aren't upgrading from a previous version then it is $149.00 up front then $59.00 / year. 

 

I should clarify that the subscription is only if you want further updates... for new users if you don't want updates after your first year, you don't need to pay any more - you can keep using the version you've got for no extra charge. 

[Dixie]

Capture software - like most things astronomy - goes through fads and fashions.  There is more choice out there now with NINA and CCD Ceil, plus others, which is great. I've been using SGP for many years and it's had bugs along the way, but for the money I really rate it.  The V3 I have is the best ever. I keep looking at other programmes, but none in my opinion has such an intuitive interface as SGP.  I don't expect the two developers to keep working hard at it for just a one off price and furnish me with high grade software for ever.  I'll be sticking with V3 unless there's a compelling reason to upgrade to V4.  But for the $100 or so I paid for it I've had more than my money's worth.

Edited February 1, 2021 by Dixie
additional comment.