I just received an email that informed me that my CorelDraw Suite monthly subscription has almost TRIPLED!
I thought this must surely be in error and went to Coreldraw.com to see the latest pricing... has Corel gone bonkers? Are they actually TRYING to drive people towards Adobe products?
Both the once-off and subscription prices have escalated enormously. I don't think I'll be able to justify using Corel over Adobe to the boss anymore, especially after the v2019 fiasco where we literally found the software useless and a danger to productivity due to all the bugs...
Shouldn't Corel Corp be mending fences instead of burning bridges?
You have to get on a plan where the subscription is billed annually. They have a new "monthly" subscription plan which costs a whopping $34.95. That comes out to nearly $420 per year. It would be insane for anyone to pay that over a year or more on a month by month basis.The normal subscription plan price has been hiked up $51 from the original $198 rate to $249. In monthly terms that translates to a jump from $16.50 to $20.75, a $4.25 increase. Again, to get the current $249 per year rate you have to pay the full year worth in one lump sum.I have version CorelDRAW 2020, but still use v2018 at work and X8 at home due to some technical problems with v2020. The older versions frequently have opening page ads when the program is launched and pop-up ads when they're closed to pitch buying v2020. I was pretty shocked the first time I saw the $34.95 subscription price. The first ads said nothing about it being a month to month rate with no yearly commitment.Even under a "normal" $249 per year rate that comes out to paying the equivalent of buying a full version of CorelDRAW graphics suite every 2 years. That's pretty steep. It cost a good bit extra up front, but over the long term the $99 per year "upgrade protection" thing Corel offered perpetual license users will end up saving a good bit of money. IMHO the $99 per year rate is what Corel should be offering if they want to attract new users. That pricing is equivalent to the previous 2-year upgrade cycle Corel previously had years ago.
The price is not the issue, the issues are any update or any new feature 85% chance it will not work properly, 95% chance it will never get fixed!
Corel are at risk of losing a lucrative market. Those who are not graphic designers but who use CorelDraw as a tool in a much bigger toolbox, like myself. I use software maximum 10 hours a week, its to do a specific job and then we move on to using other tools to complete the project. So I have no desire to saddle myself with additional cost for something that isonly a small part of my workflow. I've often said, if I have to I could revert to X5 and still earn money exactly as I do now.
If 100% of your time is spent with software then yes you can stand a price hike, provided the improvements are there. This is why in the Uk sign shops are usually 3, 4 indeed 5 versions old with their CorelDraw versions, they can get away with using an older version as newer isn't often better and they have to watch the £'s for tools that aren't necessarily essential. They would upgrade every few versions and keep current. Now they won't because it's £499 and for what? unfamilar bugs and not a lot new.
If Corel choose to price equivalent to Adobe they had better up their game a hell of a lot. PS is a hell of an application. PP is pp (p*** poor) in comparison. It could have been so different.