App premium pricing

[cagusch]

Like some others, e.g. here, I only drive long distance once every 3 to 6 months, especially with Corona and in winter. Of course there is no way I would sign up for a $5 monthly premium subscription. However, for ABRP to really make sense, you need premium, as routing without live traffic is a very dumb idea where I live.

So I would kindly ask you to offer some alternative premium pricing that also attracts people like me. The non-renewing weekly proposition from the post I linked above could be an idea. Or a day-pass for $1, for example. 

I am willing to pay a reasonable price for premium, as long as

• don't have to pay monthly for the many months where I don't drive long distance at all
• don't have to deal with subscribing, making sure I don't forget to cancel, cancelling, re-subscribing and so on 

[Lance Pickup]

I find the utility of the app alone, even just for planning purposes, is worth the $5, but that's just me.

In your case, if what you are missing is live traffic routing, why not just run another app in parallel that can re-route during heavy traffic?  I typically have my car's built-in nav, Waze, and ABRP all running at the same time and if any one of them suggests an alternate route due to congestion, I potentially take action, and usually it's Waze that does the best job of that.  It's a pretty rare thing though.

[cagusch]

Well, even by using the app only for planning purposes, I still don't do more long-distance trips. And if I pay $5 a month for every app that I only need occasionally, I would soon pay 100 dollars a month in app subscriptions. 

[Lance Pickup]

I hear you...you have your own needs and sense of benefit.  I wasn't suggesting you pay the $5, but rather utilize another app in parallel.

[cagusch]

Yes, this is actually what I do already. But the point is that I would like to pay for ABRP and use it occasionally, so I would have everything in one app and ABRP would be able to also generate some revenue from users who don't drive long-distance frequently.

The current pricing is made for users who use ABRP way more often than me. And occasional users like me don't have an attractive offer to pay for ABRP.

 

[Ou Boet]

I pay for my premium membership annually.  That way when I'm not using it, it I don't see money moving out of my account every month and don't feel bad.  Similarly, when I do need it (usually over the summer), it's already paid for and I feel like a champ.  I figure that CAN$75/yr (or what every it works out to be) is well worth it.  Just one miscalculated charge stop can ruin an outing. 

[TomTomZoe]

I also pay for premium membership, although I really only need it twice a year.
Most other days I just use it because it's fun and it works.
For me it's worth the price. 

[cagusch]

I have no doubt that there are some folks who pay for ABRP (or other apps) even though they don't use them often. Especially on this forum, of course. They can continue to do so, I'm not suggesting to stop the current premium subscription plan.

All I would like to see is an option for the (supposedly much larger) group of people who would not subscribe to a monthly (or yearly) plan for an app they only need every few months, as they don't drive long-distance frequently. Let's be honest, the majority of electric vehicles out there, with ranges under or about 300km (WLTP, not real) is not really made for frequent long-distance driving. The assumption that a lot of people who own these cars don't often drive long-distance with them is not that far-fetched.

It would benefit those users (acceptable premium price option) and ABRP as well (increased revenue) to offer some sort of pricing that targets those people. The current subscription plan does not.

[IBoS]

I'm sick of subscription based premiums, especially if it's highly overpriced like this. Create a reasonable onetime payment option, I won't pay recurring fees.

[Ou Boet]

Further to my previous post above.  I'm generally not a fan of subscriptions, but they do have their time and place.  This is one occasion I'm happy to pay it.  These guys have been developing the app for over 6 yrs now and for a small group I think it's a very slick app that works very well.  At first everything was free because it was probably mostly just a hobby.  But now it's a fulltime endeavour with staff and I feel that they should be paid for their work.  This is surely why they created the premium version.  If you stick to the regular version it's free and it's every bit as useable, just without the "gravy".  However, if you appreciate the efforts that they have put in, you can choose to pay for the premium features and help them.  This ensures they have a steady revenue base and so can continue development.  The way some people have commented here, you'd think that you have no option but to pay to use the app.

My wife recently purchased a Chevy Bolt EUV.  She doesn't care about technical stuff and stats like I do so, ABRP is of no use to her for her everyday driving.  But when we take longer trips, then I drive and then planning charge stops also becomes important.  With my ABRP subscription, I just added a new vehicle, created "standard" and "bikes on the back" profiles, did a few drives and now I have two very well calibrated profiles for planning and monitoring trips.  The app is always extremely accurate and makes sure that I don't get caught out by some unknow elevation gain in an unfamiliar location, etc.  For me the fee for premium is acceptable for the use I get and I'm happy knowing that it supports further development thus ensuring the app is always improving and supporting more/new vehicles.

[cagusch]

This thread is not about whether they should get paid for their work or not. It's about the fact that usage profiles like people that rarely go on long distance trips are not addressed with the current subscription offers. No, the free version is no option, as Android auto or Apple's equivalent are a must nowadays. 

 

If you regularly drive long distance (and are ok with ABRP's shortcomings) the subscription model is perfectly fine.