Like many, I have been a long-time Axure user (2006). Sure, there’s been bugs and such along the way, but the product is solid and does what I need it to. I love it and I have stuck with Axure for too many reasons to list.
Unfortunately, the subscription model is a deal breaker for me and I won’t be upgrading. It’s simply cost prohibitive over time. My feeling is that interaction / ux designers should be able to afford this as independents and I also feel that subscriptions are catered to corporations who can expense the monthly cost. That said, subscription options also support needs where there’s high turn-over and / or no commitment needed. So subscriptions have a place, but I don’t know how elimination of perpetual licensing supports the dedicated, long term professionals who have invested so much into using Axure for their work.
I don’t expect to never have to pay for upgrades etc. and I want Axure to be successful. However the subscription-only model introduced with 10 would increase my cost enormously and I can’t help feeling I’m being hit with a ‘loyalty tax’. This decision by Axure will unfortunately ‘phase out’ the dedicated, long-term users like myself. We’re some of the best proponents of sharing our love of Axure and what it can do. Pushing us off the platform will not help and envokes the phrase “Cutting off the nose to spite the face”.
C’mon Axure. You’ve got an amazing product. Why can’t you keep a perpetual license key option to keep the die-hards like me?
Future of Axure RP 10 and beyond?!
Here’s a small comparison:
- Axure <9: $495 perpetual license + upgrades (untrendy model)
- Axure 10, no free limited starter, $300/yr subscription
- Figma, free limited starter, $144/yr subscription
- XD, free limited starter, $99/yr subscription
- Principle, no free starter, $129 perpetual license + 1 year upgrade, only upgrades need renewal at $99/yr
Some objective suggestions could be:
- Add free limited v10+ for old license owners?
- Add at least 1 major free update for v9 license buyers?
- “Price it aggressively and go for volume”? (They’ve just pointed in that direction with a recent discount campaign, reaching a 1st year $120 subscription)
- Detach license and upgrades somehow, like Principle?
- Meanwhile, designers could schedule only hi-fi projects to fit neatly into calculated monthly Pro subscriptions …
This list could go on, and I just hope someone at Axure could at least consider these things and share some thoughts around here.
Whilst I fall firmly into the category of occasional user who likely won’t be upgrading to v10 (after 15-odd years), I’d imagine Axure know exactly how many and how often people use the software and have determined there’s more money to be had by serving those customers who open and use it more than once in a while. At some point us die-hards have to realise we’re no longer the core customers any more.
Adding my voice to this thread. I used rp10 for my last in-house job and loved it, but I’ve got a perpetual license for my freelance work where income is a lot harder to predict. I appreciate the 60% discount on rp10 for perpetual license holders, but since it’s only for the first year, I can’t use it for fear that one day I won’t be able to keep paying the subscription, and then I won’t be able to open any of my recent projects.
For the record, I have raised these concerns directly to Axure support. With the changes to this forum in the past couple of years I hadn’t seen this thread, so it’s good to know I’m not the only one.
I’ve used Axure for 10 years now as my primary tool and truly detest the thought of switching to something else. I have held firm when employers have tried to pressure me to switch to Sketch, Figma, XD, or whatever the popular tool of the year is. I’ve been able to do so because the superior results I can get with Axure are so clearly observable (how do you do, fellow kids). But that’s not going to work forever. I really, really hope we get a non-subscription option soon.
This might have changed recently, because a few months ago only the owner could create links, period (as can be seen in the screenshots on the linked page). According to the comments there, collaborators can now create links as well*, but they still can’t update existing ones. So you’ll have to juggle links instead of letting others bookmark a single URL that’s always up-to-date. *It’s not clear if they can create new links in the original project (of if they still need to create own projects), though. This might be the same as it’s been since 2017, the day this issue was posted.
I am a huge fan of Axure so I’m excited to use it. I have to get company approval first before upgrading so it may be a few months before I get to use it at work. Might do a personal test run through it.
Old thread, but here we are 2,5yrs later and I am back to using Axure again! Am at a new client where we need a few interactive prototypes to test out concepts so I convinced then to buy an Axure license, at least for 1 year.
Immediately my love/hate relationship with Axure returned. It seems like no progress at all has been made in 2,5 years. Basic stuff like decent widget library / design system support is still not there. Autosizing / autolayout not there. Simple prototypes often take hours and hours. Still… I’ve made a few prototypes that I could do not in Figma (yet). But with the big improvement Figma introduced last week (conditional logic, variables) Axure better move fast and improve (on version 10!) or else they are dead in the water.
Indeed, the recent addition of conditional logic and variables in Figma may pose a challenge to Axure. These new features allow Figma users to incorporate dynamic content and interactions more flexibly in their design process, which has been a longstanding advantage of Axure. Conditional logic and variables enable designers to create more complex interactions, such as changing interface elements based on user behavior or designing intricate user flows.
This means that Figma can now better support designers who need to create highly interactive and dynamic prototypes, which is a key user base for Axure. As a result, it may attract some designers who previously chose Axure to switch to Figma.
However, despite the potential challenge from Figma’s new features, Axure still maintains its unique strengths. For instance, Axure’s data-driven functionality, dynamic panels, and components(Masters) remain highly valuable in complex prototype design.