Price = Instant Put Off

[Cheese]

Dear XenForo,
I was a long term VB user and when I heard about a new board software from ex VB designers I was thinking " Yes maybe a decent board ". Now I didnt expect the software to be free but I never expected that I would have to pay out the same price for XF as I would for VB. XF is in the starting stages of its life and guess what the price should reflect this. There is still very little support,mods,users and the fact the software is still in its opening version [still in beta too] really put me off purchasing the software.

I am sure I am not the only user who walked into XF and pretty muched walked straight out after seeing a price that matchs VB. Would it have not been a smarter idea to start the software at a lower price say $60 - 70 and increase the price over time as a support system and development level similar to VB was created. This would have also helped to increase the amount of users who would pick your software over VB.

Now dont get me wrong so far the software seems incredable but the question on my mind as I am sure alot of others is "What garante do I have that this will continue". The chances of VB going under is about 1% the chances for a site about 7 months old is about 80%. Because of this simple fact placing a large amount of cash for pretty similar software [lets not ballshit most community software is similar]. More so when currently the amount of mods and support is lesser than that of free forum software SMF.


Well thats all I wanted to say. I hope you wont see this as an attack or just a rage from a nobody. I wanted to simply explain my doubts that I bet alot of other possible clients will have also. Also I think that an "Affordable Vbulleten Alternative" would have made more sence than an "Similar Priced Software Created From Vbulletens Developers". Well think it over as I can say this now. One of the current problems with vbulleten is they seem to care more about money than they do quality and the fact you want the same price as such an early stage of your sites development does not give great confidence that XF will not follow they way of VB.


ps to simply put it

- Vbulleten - Huge Developer Community , Mods , Skins , Features , Updates , Long Term Company = Around $140

- XenoForo - New to communtiy software - Low Developer Community , Software lacks range as large as Vbulleten, Has some amazing features , Skin + Mod + Updates still very lacking. = Around $140

You do the maths and tell me if you WAS not a user of VB or XF and was about to pick one what would you truly rather pay $140 for if you was a complete amature with community software as most clients are.

 

[AnthonyCea]

The thing you don't understand is the fact that the licensing structure for XF is a true lifetime license (with a non-mandatory yearly renewal fee to stay updated), what vB use to be before Bob Brisco changed the EULA, when he did this he stole all the value we "vbulletin lifetime license owners" had when we purchased our software under the original license.

Next version of vB 5 with all the "so called bells and whistles" most likely will be over 500 bucks a copy and that will further drive more forums far away from Internet Brands since vBulletin has no more "lifetime licenses".

 

[Peggy]

It is called a perspective client reaction.
You ever thought that maybe a company does not grow or change to what is needed if no one ever comments on it?
Idiots who just post "LOVE IT" "Its Great" "BEtter than Vb" what good are you? Do you actually make a change to the site or even give imput? No. Im explaing to the owners how $140 is a possible turn off to bring in old VB clients at such an early stage.

Sheshh

LOL! I wouldn't be calling these people idiots, since you'll be asking for help from them should you eventually decide to purchase XenForo.

Anyway, the price of the license isn't going to change.

 

[Jo.]

We run a large non-profit support group that functions only on donations from members. We have little disposable income and yet we feel confident enough in this software and its developers to have bought a license as soon as they were released, even knowing that we probably won't convert until the stable version is released and are still paying for a vb license in the meantime.

 

[Kaiser]

I sorta agree... it should be cheaper because ipb is just $10 more, but the devs got to make a living, I'd say $120 would be a reasonable price. But also note that although its beta software its still more stable than vB. Probably its uniqueness is why its so high, gotta admit xenForo is changing things around in the foruming biz.. with all this great features and stuff.

 

[Dean]

In general people don't like change to pricing / licensing.

Personally I think they have the price perfect for both the near and long term. There are many choices on the market to choose from, I see no reason not to choose the software that is most desirable for each specific forum.

 

[whynot]

I sorta agree... it should be cheaper because ipb is just $10 more, but the devs got to make a living, I'd say $120 would be a reasonable price.

Make its price $140.
Give a discount of $40 while it's Beta (sell it for $100)
Give a discount of $20 for version 1.0(sell it for $120)
Sell it for full price $140 as soon as it reaches version 1.1
Version 2 ? Sky is the limit.

Not much to lose, a lot to gain.

 

[melbo]

I bought a license on $100 day even though i had no idea if I'd even be interested in the software. I thought of it as a donation to keep this thing going. Now, I'm seriously thinking of converting my only community over... Waiting on a gold release and a custom theme design and just a few other small things.

If you don't like it, there are 50 other free alternatives out there. I was quite pleased at the price and I paid full price for vB4 suite and haven't ever used it yet. I've tried to upgrade from vB3 on a test server about 10 times now and every time I do, I end up deleting the install and going back to my vB 3 community.

 

[Floris]

(to op) If you don't like it - go away and buy IPB or vBulletin for more money - I honestly dont' care

 

[kilcher]

It may not do as much but it's far better IMO. Ultimately you need to ask yourself if it's worth $140. If so, buy it, if not, don't.

 

[Teddy Scott]

Hum. Everyone has his own opinion, so here is mine. How did I find this place? VB.
How? In a poll that VB had. The poll was basically if there were no other forums out there to purchase but VB, what would you purchase. Xenforo my friend is leading the poll by a landslide over there. And, Im willing to bet it still is.
So obviously, court action or not someone is doing something right over here...NOT over there.
You know, I was looking to buying upgrading from 3.65 to 4.0 until I saw the poll. After about 10 minutes on this site that we are on now, doing a quick google to find out about the lawsuit ( I don't think the current owners of VB has a chance in hell of winning btw) I came back here and decided in about 20 minutes whos side I am on, and its NOT VB. Did I have $140 to purchase xenforo? Nope. Do I now? Nope. I am on unemployment. BUT in a few weeks I managed to come up and make a purchase. I have xenforo now and am 110% happy with it right now even though its still in beta. I am a all "bells and whistles" type of guy. I like eye candy, and things that are cool. But this forum here is so much smoother, easier on the eyes than VB has ever been in my opinion. I wanted all the bells and whistles with the VB publishing suite. But wait... You call $140 high? what about $285 for the publishing suite. Plus once I realized the differences between the publishing suite and the forums I realized that $195 seemed the better of the two options. Now $140 as compared to the $195 option... Are you kidding me?
Which one are you gonna pick? The free PHPBB3?
Sorry to sound so pro- xenforo pal, but I ask you to really look at it for what its worth. I feel like Kier and Mike and whomever else was responsible for pricing Xenforo have done a GREAT job and have done it competitively with VB.
Just sounds like to me that people who knock a product because of pricing are normally jealous of something. It's not that they don't have the money for it. And I don't really see it as you not having the money for it. I see it as a jealous thing. Nothing more, nothing less. If you don't have the money for xenforo, save up till you do. If you don't like xenforo because of something, let the developers know. If you have the money for xenforo and are pro VB, then theres another place for you. And its not here.
Off rant.

 

[aculate]

i've paid 195$ for vB version 4 and still can't use it because of bugs and specially because of features regression not yet fixed...
For me it's a trust issue. I don't trust IB anymore with my money....

Once i'm ready to switch from vb3.8 to xF 1.0 , i'll be honored to pay 140$...

 

[FreshFroot]

Ah, so there is an "in-crowd" early adopter group who paid less? Shame I missed that!

Well XF can't reduce the price now without upsetting many recent license buyers. But with the legal case and unknown D-day I guess the fence sitters will sit it out a little longer until the future and extended value (addons, mods etc) are known.

I think the value proposition for XF will be much clearer in 6 months time.

PS. Cheese, don't let your disappointment of vB affect your perception of XF

Well they could always bring the price down and for a promo and offer the people who paid more an extra yr of upgrades?

 

[fattony69]

Simply put, if you think $140 is a lot of money, I feel bad for you. Even if I lost $140, I invested it better than some of my nights and/or weekends. If you want to be cheap, just go free. No need to complain. You will hear the same thing over and over here, so stop being ignorant. Nothing you say will change the minds of everyone.

 

[FreshFroot]

It is called a perspective client reaction.
You ever thought that maybe a company does not grow or change to what is needed if no one ever comments on it?
Idiots who just post "LOVE IT" "Its Great" "BEtter than Vb" what good are you? Do you actually make a change to the site or even give imput? No. Im explaing to the owners how $140 is a possible turn off to bring in old VB clients at such an early stage.

Sheshh

I do some what agree with you.

But I don't see how you can't sell your vB licenses and buy XF licenses? I'm sure you'd make MORE than enough to not worry about price.

Or is it just that you want the lowest price possible? Even to save a few bucks?

 

[Carl]

I was a new client to the software when it came out. But I had spent about a month here already and knew I was hooked. It's just fun to post on a XF forum, you go back to your old one and wonder where all the good stuff went. Even VB started out somewhere, so did other giants...don't knock a "baby" while it's learning to walk and say it won't make a good adult. Heck, IMO, it's already past VB4 and has IPB in it's gunsights.

We know the mod community is important but many were waiting til it hit RC stage. However, they still got in early and in playing with it in their own sandbox, discovered it's a joy to mod/design for unlike what they use to work with.


That may be, and if it is too much, we don't make them buy.

As to my signature, it's a variation of St. Thomas Aquinas...and he is talking about faith not software. I'm as skeptic as they come when it comes to software.

Lol it's no where near ipb - nor will it be for a long while! Many, many more features need to be incorporated before it will even be comparable to ipb.

 

[Teddy Scott]

Sorry glorify ... the going rate for used vB4 suite license is $100 ...


hummm....anyone that will pay $100 for VB4 will surely pay $75 for 3.65 license....
I think Ill take that $75 and put it towards another second Xenforo license purchase...

 

[FreshFroot]

The thing you don't understand is the fact that the licensing structure for XF is a true lifetime license (with a non-mandatory yearly renewal fee to stay updated), what vB use to be before Bob Brisco changed the EULA, when he did this he stole all the value we "vbulletin lifetime license owners" had when we purchased our software under the original license.

Next version of vB 5 with all the "so called bells and whistles" most likely will be over 500 bucks a copy and that will further drive more forums far away from Internet Brands since vBulletin has no more "lifetime licenses".

Exactly.. LONG term XF is MUCH cheaper. With vB your stuck paying a HUGE fee every few years.

With XF the fee really is optional, though I think most will pay the $40 every year or two.

So let's see

vB4 suite = $295
vB4 Forum = $195

Longterm - Add in at least a $100+ fee for upgrading to vB5

Which makes it

vB4 suite = $295 + 100 = est. $395 round to $400
vB4 Forum = $195 +100 = $295 round to $300


XF Forum = $140

Longterm - Add in a yearly fee of $40.
XF Forum = $140 + $40 = $180. For yr one

XF Forum = $140 +$40 + $40 = $220 For yr two

XF Forum = $140 +$40 + $40 + $40 = $260 For yr three

I can go on... so look at the data.

WHERE is it stating XF costs more than vB? Heck you can even skip 1-2 yrs of renewals with XF and it will be EVEN more cheaper. Though if you make yearly renewals its STILL saving you money.

So please, tell me how can you cry about the price. When you paid TONS of money for a vB license and yet an XF license is still cheaper.

As for your bulk prices, I don't really buy that. But lets say you DID or DO want to buy bulk. I bet you if you contact Ashley he would give you a lower price if you were buying 50+ licenses.

WHICH!!!! would make it EVEN MORE cheaper to buy XF.

So come on... please don't cry about something that doesn't even exist.

I'm not a vB hater... I still use vB for now that is... but testing out XF and preparing it for my site in the soon future. It is worth it in price FOR SURE. So take it from a new person here.

It is MUCH cheaper!

 

[FreshFroot]

Lol it's no where near ipb - nor will it be for a long while! Many, many more features need to be incorporated before it will even be comparable to ipb.

LOL.. this coming from a IPB fanboy I see your IPB site

So to me that opinion is biased.

But as features go.. I'm sure when Gold is out.. the features will pop up like crazy.

And anyways for now I see SOO many addons. There are TONS of features to add.

 

[Carl]

LOL.. this coming from a IPB fanboy I see your IPB site

So to me that opinion is biased.

But as features go.. I'm sure when Gold is out.. the features will pop up like crazy.

And anyways for now I see SOO many addons. There are TONS of features to add.

No I'm objective. I have a xenforo site too.

 

[Dragapult]

Simply put Quillz it is already know that a large percentage of new companies do not even last a year.
You may say xenoforo will but I bet alot of sites say that too. The fact is once XF reaches a year I will be the first to put my hand in my pocket and pay $140 but until then its still possible it will do.


Also with all the so called court action against XF paying $140 is really offputing. I see a site may go under and is already in court against other sites then it really doesnt make you want to risk hard earned cash with no garante XF will be here in 6 months

A company can fail at any point in time, whether it's a year old or 100 years old. You don't seem to have much faith in XenForo because of the ongoing court proceedings, which is fine: you question the company's long-term survival. In that case, perhaps XenForo isn't the solution for you and should look elsewhere.