Articulate 360

One issue that I don't see mentioned often, is that if you have clients that you have already encouraged to purchase Storyline 2 so that they can make in-house changes as required, it is very hard to try and sell them on buying a subscription for the 1-2 times/year they might want to make changes. We have hundreds of clients who all use the courses we make, and our selling point was that they can quickly and easily make text changes/translate the materials using the translate function in-house. They have already invested in SL2 in order to do this. Now we basically have our hands tied and either can't offer mobile learning (which we all know is what EVERYONE is demanding) for at least a year, or need to somehow convince 100 clients to subscribe? It is a really difficult situation.

I've been one of articulate's biggest fans for years, and while I still say the software is fantastic, I think releasing a subscription model (especially such an expensive one) before addressing the mobile publishing in the perpetual version was a very unfair move to your many loyal clients. Storyline is very aware how important HTML5 support is in the industry, and I think it is quite manipulative to make this functionality only available to subscription model customers for up to a year! 

You've summed up my feelings precisely. My small team and I feel backed into a corner with this release - either wait on mobile, which is what everyone is asking for - or start an expensive subscription that we can't justify year upon year.

So, after all of the hemming and hawing I did in regards to pricing of Articulate 360...I decided to go forward with a subscription. I WAS using Captivate 9 which is cheaper but truthfully? It never gave me that modern, up to date feeling. Plus,I couldn't get enough relevant training for Captivate 9. I also had a subscription to Lynda.com....also very limited. 

Anyway, between the $30 per month for Captivate 9 and another $35 for Lynda, I figured I'd push that money towards Articulate 360, which ultimately was what I always wanted in a package deal. Well, okay, I can forego the Apple products but still, good solid package.

My only big request here is to lower the yearly price a bit, just so it's less painful to some who are in that "just out of reach" zone.

Thank you for your business Harry.  While I don't know if we'll lower our annual pricing, I can assure you that we'll continue to add value to your Articulate 360 subscription by introducing new features and offerings as they become available.  

While I appreciate the way that you're positioning the entire 360 package for value, I'd like to add my voice to those before me stating that this subscription is difficult to justify on an annual basis. I think that a 360 version of Storyline by itself at a lower price point would be perfect for our limited usage. I have no doubt that the additional tools you provide with 360 are excellent, but at this time I have no need for tools like Preso or Rise.

Can anybody tell me why, for what reason may be, the price, the subscription price, is that high!!!????? Compare with MS office, whre one choose the rigjht number (??) of applications in de packet......

Mark replied earlier in the thread basically that if they had hundreds of millions of users then they could offer a subscription fee similar to the $69 per year that Microsoft does.  The way I see it, that just proves that the subscription model isn't right for Articulate.  The end user shouldn't have to pay 15 times more because Articulate doesn't have that many users.

The common beef I'm seeing is Storyline users feel hurt because we have been loyal supporters and have been waiting a long time for things like mobile support and html5 upgrades to Storyline 2 only to have them finally come out in a package with a bunch of other products that we don't need at an extremely high yearly price.  Storyline 2.5 or 3 should be available now, not next year.  :(

The price is too high for the the first year and ridiculous for the subsequent years, even with with all the discounts offered. And the volume discount is for 10+ only. Who has that kind of money? We like the review feature, templates, and Rise. Otherwise we have everything we need with Storyline 2 and the studio version. 

Also, we are running into a few issues with the trial version. The files created are not backward compatible. And we are not sure if we could reinstall the Articulate software we own once we are done with trial. I also notice the new publishing setting that is recommended (html5 first, flash second) doesn't work with our LMS, Saba.

We were very excited about 360. But the price and the support has been disappointing. Instead of upgrading everybody, we are now only thinking to buy one license for special projects and keep everything else in SL2 and Studio 13.  

That's the main issue I have with it too, Fraser. Not that there is a new software, but that Storyline 360 (or 2.5 or 3) isn't being offered on its own for loyal Storyline customers.

I also am irked that there isn't a more clear timeline for when the next edition of Storyline will be released, or even the next patch. If Storyline 360 has HTML5 and mobile support, why can't these features be released in a patch for Storyline 2? Articulate staff, what's your answer for that? I did a trial of 360, but knew that my company would stick with Storyline 2.

Can I continue to voice my support for HTML5 output to be 508 compliant in Storyline 2? I'm glad this feature is in 360, but I feel like users have been asking for this feature for a long time, and it would be great to see it for loyal customers,  in Storyline 2.

I've seen lots of posts about it being hard for small teams and individual contractors, but if you think it's better for a large team in a big company, it's not. I tried working with their sales team and the volume discounts for 10+ don't really put a dent the expense.

We're wrapping up budgeting for 2017. In our budget review, our finance dept would laugh us out of the room if we tried to justify paying around $16,000 annually for 14 licenses for something we like a little better than what we currently own outright. If we used it for 3 years, we would pay around $48,000 for 360 and at the end of the day, not own the licenses unless we kept paying.

Articulate should check competitor pricing and just try to be in the ballpark. At list price, 360 for teams is $1,299/year. Captivate is $360/year. Yes articulate is better, not 3.5 times better. That's like saying that if people to pay $15 for a good burger, they should be willing to pay $55 for a great burger. 

Hi Genie,

Storyline 360 or Studio 360 won't be backwards compatible with earlier versions of Storyline and Studio. You should be able to have Storyline 1, 2 and 360 installed on the same system though so no need to remove the existing license to work within the trial. If you removed Studio '13 to install Studio 360 we can always help you reinstall that when ready. They cannot be installed on the same system as they are both Powerpoint addins and only one can exist at a time. 

If you need additional help with the reinstallation of your Articulate products please feel free to reach out to our Support team here. 

Hi Rachel,

I'm sorry that I don't have a better timeline to offer in regards to the next perpetual version of Storyline or other updates to Storyline 2, but once we have those details we'll be sure to share in forum discussions such as this one. 

Based on what I have read so far, I think we will want a perpetual license versus having a monthly subscription. Is 360 available in that format or do we have to wait on SL3?  Also, it might have been referenced but I need to evaluate how 360 is different from SL3?

Hi Helena,

We don't have a full feature list for the next Storyline perpetual version, but you could expect it to include things you're seeing now in Storyline 360 such as dials and the new responsive player. The web based items as a part of Articulate 360 such as Content Library and Articulate Review will not be included. 

Once we have additional information to share we'll be certain to include in forum discussions such as this one. 

Ok. Our billing and accounts payable works differently and having to depend that the monthly subscription is not very feasible. We have as well as many other companies have budgets allocated at various times.  Getting our services halted because account services didn't process in Articulates timely manner is a process we don't want to deal with. 

Hi Helena,

Just to clarify, Articulate 360 will be billed annually, not monthly. So you wouldn't be cut off mid term based on your billing departments set up for monthly payments. 

One of our freelancers, who is a student, has upgraded to 360. It is a very nice product but definitely not worth the yearly fee. As a small elearning development company there is just no way we can afford to get 4 or 5 licences on a yearly basis at $5 000 to $6 500 per year. We will definitely upgrade our Storyline 2 licences when 3 eventually is released but I am not confident that Articulate will continue updating the perpetual software with the same attention they are going to shift to the subscription offering. Our company is growing and we intend adding another 3 - 5 elearning developers over the next 2 years. As much as I like and respect what Articulate has done in the past, I now feel that I cannot keep up with their plans for the future. I also agree with everyone who feels hard done by because the same features that are in 360 are not going to be available for an indeterminate time, probably until 3 is released. I have it from a good source that Articulate did plan to release 3 in 2016. I can see now why that release was delayed. Hopefully it wont be for too long.

Hi, Ashley,

I find it very frustrating that there isn't really an answer for when Storyline 3 will be released, other than "sometime in 2017," especially since most answers to what will be the difference between Storyline 360 and Storyline 3 is that there won't be access to the Content Library and Review. I'm a user who won't be updating to 360 (as Storyline 2 has worked well for me and my company, and I don't need most of the other features on 360), and it would be great to have less vague answers, or at the least, could we get e-mails about Storyline and Suite releases? Goodness knows I keep getting e-mails about 360. Seems like this courtesy should also be extended to Storyline and Suite.

Thanks,
Rachel

Hi Lawrence, 

Articulate is going to continue to support the subscription and perpetual products, as we understand that subscription isn't for everyone. We certainly don't want to leave you hanging - and once there is additional information to share in regards to the next perpetual update I promise we'll update forum threads such as this one. Since you've responded you'll get email notifications of all new replies (unless you've turned them off within your ELH profile). 

Hi Rachel,

I understand and if I had an answer to give you, I certainly would. It's not that we're being coy, but we truly don't have a firm date set. Not knowing the exact date or timeframe is certainly anxiety producing when you'd like to get access to the newest, latest and greatest so we're trying our best to answer these forum discussions with as much information as possible. 

In terms of the features, I don't have a full list yet. This discussion has gotten a bit long and so you may have missed some of the answers earlier, about features which you're seeing now in Storyline 360 such as dials, responsive player, square corner button styles, etc would be a part of the next perpetual version. You can see a comparison of Storyline 360 to SL2 to SL1 here. Since we're able to add new things to Articulate 360 on a regular basis, it means that the potential for those things to also be included in perpetual future versions of Storyline is also an option - so that feature list isn't truly locked down yet.  Things that you won't see in the next perpetual include items such as Articulate Review and access to Content Library as those are specific to the Articulate 360 subscription. 

As far as emails about Studio or Storyline - you're not receiving anything yet as there isn't anything to send. :) Without knowing what that full feature list is or our release date it would be cruel to send you teasers about it in advance - but once we have information to share, I have no doubt we'll be happy to share it here in ELH and in emails. 

I finally got a chance to play with Rise and really like it. Very slick and professional. I'm in the same boat, though, and I feel like I got a great new toy for Christmas but will only be able to play with it for 30 days. : ( 

I need an updated version of Storyline that's more mobile friendly, and I would be willing to pay for Rise. We wouldn't use any of the other products. Our art is too industry specific that I can't use any of those pretty pictures in Content Library.

Rise and Storyline 3 or 360 would be a great combo. Please consider this. Thanks.

Hi, Ashley,

I understand why we don't have e-mails about Studio and Storyline, as we won't get new software or updates until "sometime in 2017." I just think it'd be nice to get e-mails about these releases in the future, since we are currently getting multiple e-mails about different 360 product features and release notes. I may not have worded myself well in my comment.

Thanks,
Rachel