Monthly Subscription to Storyline?

May 24, 2012

I have a client who is requesting a course be created in Captivate to match their other courses and I noticed they offer a monthly subscription as an alternative to purchasing the software. It's $29/mo. I thought this was a GREAT idea for people like me who don't use Captivate all that often.

Are there any plans for Storyline to offer a similar subscription plan? I'm going to be purchasing it anyway, but was just wondering

32 Replies
Christina Stephenson

Thanks Mark,

I'll be purchasing Storyline anyways, but thought it was a good idea Unfortunately, from time to time, I do have clients who request courses be created in Captivate (because they have it and can go back in and edit later if needed), but I do find Storyline much more flexible and intuitive/easier to use.

BTW - they must have lowered the price. The website currently says $29 month-to-month (or 19/mo if you subscribe on an annual basis).

Kevin Reed

Old post, but still valid....Would be nice to have the monthly SL option for those who don't have the money up front for SL. I bought Captivate at $30/month because I needed to learn it, and because I could afford it. I'd like to be using Storyline, as a contractor/small business, but again the up front cost is prohibitive at this time.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Kevin,

With Articulate 360 we switched to an annual subscription, which is a change from our previous perpetual license of Storyline or Studio. You can still purchase Storyline 3 as a one time, perpetual license but you may also want to take a look at the trial of Articulate 360 here! 

Ursula Comeau

Guys, I really think this is a matter of listening to your customers! The question about whether or not you have monthly payment plans has come up so often everywhere in the forums that even your FAQ page has that question! Do you have any plans to finally offer a monthly subscription option? An idea is to do what Adobe CC does: they offer monthly subscriptions, but you are locked in for a year. If you cancel within that year, you are charged a cancellation fee. 

As a small business, it is extremely prohibitive to purchase Articulate products simply because you don't offer monthly subscription plans. Your customer base would grow exponentially if you did, and again, just implement the one year commitment rule and you don't have to worry about anyone jumping ship.

Why is it taking you guys so long to offer us an option like this? How many more customer requests will it take for Articulate to finally offer a monthly subscription option? I've been checking back for several years and frankly, I'm surprised you still don't offer this.

Laura Cromb-Smith

I think that offering a monthly subscription is a great idea. I really don't have the budget to blow almost 2 thousand dollars AUD at once when I have resources and invoices that need to be stretched over each month, but a monthly subscription would really negate this issue for us.

I'd love to get involved with articulate but at the moment it's just not possible when you're not offering a flexible plan or options for those of us who don't work for large corporations or have the money to fork out up front. I've been told that articulate is fantastic to use and super intuitive, but at the moment it's just not a possibility for us. 

Here's hoping that the amount of comments and topics i've seen about this will finally come to fruition and we'll see a change in the subscription model. 

C B

Agree and wish there was an option for a monthly subscription. I do small projects throughout the year but oftentimes they're spread out so I'll sit 6 months wasting a subscription when I could do month to month. I've even suggested other programs to customers that take me more time to use but are either month to month or I have the software already loaded, just so that I don't to pay $1K up front for a project that might only last 1 month.

Caroline Wood

I am pleased to see so many posts regarding monthly payment options. I would have been up and running months ago had it been an option. The trial was amazing and I thank the Articulate team for that privilege. However; to become a part of the Articulate community requires some flexibility in paying for the product.  I suppose that Articulate wants serious users and not those whose monthly payment may turn into reduced cash flow.  You do get a lot for the money; however, the jobs I have been researching look for either Articulate or Captivate, and some want only Captivate.  Where will Articulate stand in terms of the foundational choice for e-learning development?

 

Isaac Preston

I would absolutely concur with this need for a monthly subscription. I am the director of content for a learning company that has historically only done video and simulation content. I've been pushing to do something in the middle; 2D interactive Storyline content. I'd like to get the IDs on my staff a license, but the executives are not going to buy into 3+ licenses at $1300 a piece. They would be fine with $100-300 a month, though. Articulate is actively losing potential sales by their unwillingness to listen to what the market is saying. I personally have a SL3 license that I purchased before coming to this company, as I don't see the value for an individual continuing to pay, in perpetuity, but that's another matter. Though, even for corporate, I would rather just buy my people SL3 licenses than a subscription that costs the same, but you never own the software. It would be another thing if 360 was cheaper, long term. Your older pricing model made it such that 360 was about 1400 over the course of two years, thus SL3 paid for itself in two years. Now, 360 is the same per year as just buying SL3. You're losing corporate sales Articulate.

eric bort

One more vote for monthly billing... This alone has stopped me from involving more team members and in the end sending more money to your company because of the massive up front cost and zero flexibility. It would take all of a week to get someone to implement this payment feature if that - and seriously, charge 10% more for month to month and give a discount for full payment, you'd make even more money, and your customers would be happier. What gives? Not a fan of companies that just say "that's our policy" - I think you know you have the industry backed in a corner at this point & can do as you will. This is coming from someone who has been a loyal customer from SL 1 - between the above and my 100th request for a scrubable timeline that actually shows the animation play in real time (which would save hours of development frustration) I've yet to feel heard with your feature request option, for the love of God please listen to your user base.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Ryan, Eric, and Helena. 

Thank you for reaching out here, and I know during difficult times like this it's helpful to connect with your peers to find solutions. The staff who manage the forums are focused on providing product or technical support, but I did share your concerns with our Sales and Customer Success teams. 

Articulate is a human-centered organization that cares deeply about both employees and customers and takes “doing what’s right” very seriously.  We’re here to support you and your clients during this time, so I'd invite you to connect with our Sales team to discuss your unique situation and see what custom solutions we can offer you. 

They're always happy to speak with you via chat, phone at 800-81-4880 extension 1, or email to sales@articulate.com

kathleen murphy

One more request/demand/plea for a subscription-based option for Articulate. It's just too expensive when you don't use it all of the time. And as others have said above---your organization should be doing something to help people out during Covid 19 with all of the classes that need to go online and people that are out of work. I have been steering my clients towards Captivate for this reason even if I prefer your product. It's a shame that you won't listen to your loyal customers that have been asking for this for 8+ years. You are one of the only companies that don't have this option. What in the world are you waiting for? Help us out!!!!! A lot of us are freelancers and it's not always easy to drop 1k when our subscription runs out. Please give us this option to pay by the month, it's so disheartening that you won't bend on this. 

Kara Allison

Another vote for a monthly option. I dislike Captivate but am often forced to use it because that is all the client is willing to pay for--and once people start using Captivate it is hard to convince them to not only switch to Storyline, but to also pay a lot more to switch and then pay to have everything redeveloped... 

Kelli Hart

I agree.  I was hoping to use articulate as I have used it on trial once to play around with a small personal project and loved the features. But cannot afford this upfront cost for this one project. Unfortunately, I will be going with Captivate for this pretty big upcoming project.  Would be happy to find that Articulate decides to make a similar offering.  It would be an easy switch.  Thanks!

Ashley DeKerlegand

I work for a large corporation (18k+ employees) and I have pitched using Storyline to my managers and they absolutely love this product but due to Covid, it is ridiculously hard to purchase anything over $1k right now. I already have a license for Captivate because it is a monthly subscription. We are getting ready to begin a very large project developing training for multiple software programs that we own and I am sad to say that we will be forced to use Captivate over Articulate simply because Adobe offers a monthly subscription. This is clearly a problematic issue not only for individuals and small business, but large corporations as well. I really think your sales would increase drastically if you offered a monthly subscription! I may only have a few months left before the project begins so I'm begging you to please open this up to a monthly subscription!