How Will Avid Pro Tools Price Changes Affect You?

How Avid Pricing Works

Historically, a Pro Tools user would purchase a hardware/software bundle that contained a permanent license for the software. You merely made paid for updates to keep with the latest version releases. Later, Avid moved to an a la carte situation where you could buy the hardware and software separately as you pleased, which made things a lot more flexible.

On the software side, Avid then moved over to what they call having an “Active Plan” that meant users pay to keep up with free software updates yearly. Most recently, Avid has introduced the ability to use Pro Tools via a subscription model, or outright buy a permanent license (Avid calls these perpetual licenses). The subscription adds even more ease of use, just in case you didn’t consider yourself a full-time Pro Tools user, but wanted to have it for certain projects or for transferring sessions to Pro Tools users. The major benefit being you can turn your subscription on and off as necessary.

New Avid Changes For 2019

Since the introduction of these Pro Tools ownership methods, the software industry has continued to move more towards the subscription direction.  Avid is now making even more adjustments to reflect these changes. Let's start with Perpetual Licenses. They are not going away, as Avid will still be offering renewal plans on those products.

If you’re currently a Perpetual License owner, you'll want to check your expiration date by logging into your My Avid, and consider giving Vintage King a call before price changes occur on July 1st, 2019.  We can help you purchase multiple renewals and ensure that you are unaffected by price changes for years to come. For example, say your active plan expires in October 2019. If you purchase three renewals, you would be covered with an active plan to October of 2022 and you will save greatly in the long term.

So what prices are actually changing? For the everyday Pro Tools Standard Perpetual License user, the annual renewal to their upgrade plan is increasing from $99 to $199. For anyone looking to purchase the full-blown Pro Tools Ultimate, that price is increasing from $2,499 to $2,599. There are also some changes on the subscription side, both with increases for the Pro Tools Standard user and decreases for the Ultimate users.

Here is a chart of the pricing changes to see just how much different pricing will be on all Avid Pro Tools products. If you have questions about what Pro Tools is right for you, click here.

What's Avid Pro Tools Plan Makes The Most Sense For Me

I don’t like change! What does this all mean? When it comes to the decision between a perpetual investment vs subscription purchase, a lot of Pro Tools users simply want to know what is the most economic and easiest choice. With the new pricing, we can dive into the top two relevant comparisons over a period of time:

Avid Pro Tools Standard Comparison:

1x Avid Pro Tools Standard perpetual license purchase - $599 (one time purchase and includes 1 year of updates)
4x Avid Pro Tools Standard license renewals - $199 (made each year before the plan expires)

Over a 5 year period, the Pro Tools user would spend $1,395.00 to own Pro Tools and have access to every new update as they become available.

vs.

1x Avid Pro Tools Standard Rental Subscription Annual Rental Paid Monthly - $29.99 (x12) = $359.88 (annually)
1x Avid Pro Tools Standard Rental Subscription Annual Rental Paid Annually - $299

Over a 5 year period, the most economical way to rent Pro Tools at $299 per annual payment would total to $1,495 for the same experience. So, the perpetual license still works out as a more economic way of using Pro Tools over time.

Avid Pro Tools Ultimate Comparison:

1x Avid Pro Tools Ultimate perpetual license purchase - $2,599 (one time purchase and includes 1 year of updates)
6x Avid Pro Tools Ultimate license renewals - $399 (made each year before the plan expires)

Over a 7 year period, the Pro Tools Ultimate user would spend $4,993.00 to own Pro Tools Ultimate and have access to every new update as they become available.

vs.

1x Avid Pro Tools Ultimate Rental Subscription Annual Rental Paid Monthly - $79.99 (x12) = $959.88 (annually)
1x Avid Pro Tools Ultimate Rental Subscription Annual Rental Paid Annually - $799

Over a 7 year period, the most economical way to rent Pro Tools Ultimate at $799 per annual payment would total to $5,593.00 for the same experience.

What's the end result for brand new users? Perpetual Licenses with annual renewals are still the more economic way to buy Pro Tools and keep up to date with software changes. What is changing is the amount of time it takes for the perpetual plus renewals to work out over the subscription model to save you money.

One last important detail is that owning a Perpetual License, whether you choose to keep an active plan for updates, means that you own that license. It won’t expire like a subscription. If you prefer buying a system and running it until the wheels fall off before making major software changes, you can still do that.

Still have questions about Avid Pro Tools pricing changes? Our team at Vintage King can help ease you through the design and configuration process of your Pro Tools system. We even offer turnkey solutions and support to help make it easy. If you’d like to learn more, please contact a Vintage King Audio Consultant via email or by phone at 866.644.0160.