Hi, We are considering upgrading to Storyline 3 but also wondering when Storyline 4 will be available and what additional features we can expect. Would appreciate any insight you have.

Hi Ashley, Can you at least say is Storyline 4 even considered? Wandering around articulate page I have that feeling, that... sadly, no. To get an information on Storyline 3 I must dig a little now. Of course I understand that subscription model is probably way more profitable than standalone versions, but sadly for non USD or EUR countries, it's really pricey. I'd love to continue work with Storyline, since I'm with it from 2012, but the cost can be killing, especially if my company would like to hire another person to do learning content (we are small business doing e-learnings on-demand, not some big corporation making tons of learnings a year). Upgrading once in 3 year is really attractive and helps to maintain costs. You have done some nice things with 360 (enhanced object positioning and modern player for example), but the first one only makes working more comfortable, and the second one, with some work, can be achieved in storyline3. But I'll probably buy the 360 subscription, if I could do it like Adobe did with CC. You just want just one app? Ok, here you go, take it. You want all apps? Sure, no problem, just pay us a little more. Maybe you want additional access to stock library? Here you go, just few more dollars. If I could choose that I only want Articulate 360, without any additional content. Fairly, I don't see any use of studio, rise, replay or review. I also don't see a need to use content library. What I'm trying to say... Please, let us have a little freedom in WHAT we want to buy :) Considering above, if I need to pay for only Storyline360 I'd probably go for it. Now, I'll stick to the good old SL3 :)

I'm going to chime in here with another voice in support of perpetual versions. In your current business schema you've overlooked the needs of many of your customers: specifically, contractors. I am one of them, and it just isn't practical for me to sign onto an annual subscription when next year's clients may want all ILT or Lectora. What happens then, when I've been working on another type of project entirely for 8 months and a previous client asks for a "quick fix" to something in SL? At that point I can't even access something that is part of my own portfolio! Quite a lot of your customers are contractors like myself, and you've put us in a bind.

Hi Ashley, Why doesn't Articulate benchmark from Adobe and offer Storyline 360 in a perpetual version, taking into account that any cloud-based functions will be lost, as Adobe does with Captivate 2019? Adobe offers a cloud-based subscription (for much cheaper than 360 by the way) for Captivate or you can get the full version as a stand-alone. We have both perpetual versions of Captivate 2019 and Storyline 3. As part of the DoD, we can't allow ANY cloud-based software from an outside agency into our networks for national security reasons so your product is slowly becoming obsolete to our agency and probably soon to a lot of other Government agencies that have strict network security protocols. You might want to re-evaluate your business model if you want to keep some of the Government agencies as well as some corporations that take network security seriously.

Hello All. Hopefully Articulate consider the population of consumers that are unable to use 360 due to Federal or corporate policy governing sensitive content. Perpetual licenses are sensible and ideal for consumers that must use tools to develop sensitive content. Perhaps Articulate may consider bringing their suite of fantastic tools to FedRAMP, there is a huge and open market for these types of tools that could be used in the government sector.

Hi xx, We're continuing to support Storyline 3 with bug fixes, but we haven’t made any decisions about developing a new perpetual version of Storyline (aka Storyline 4). If you have any other questions, happy to answer them or feel free to connect with our team one-on-one!

Storyline 4 dates | Articulate

AndyChap-e4f711
Community Member
6 years ago
Hi XX,

You've raised a question that's been on my mind for a while and I suspect that you'll get a glib, patronising response to say something like "You really don't need perpetual licenses, look at all of the fabulous features in SL360". What you won't get is a definitive response from Articulate telling us that we haven't wasted our time and money investing in a product that they're no longer going to support.

There are several other threads discussing the update to Storyline V4 (https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/storyline-perpetual-licence) but none of them get honest answers.

Unfortunately we've switched to Adobe Captivate, which I don't feel is an intuitive as SL but at least it's supported and available as a perpetual license, is cheaper than 360 and isn't bloated with applications you'll never use.

Sad that we've been abandoned but still hoping Articulate will have a change of heart. (I suspect we'll get yet another meaningless response though).
AH2
Community Member
5 years ago
It is now July 2020. Time for SL4 if it is ever coming. If not, users should be told.
TarikPilavci
Community Member
5 years ago
Hi,

We are also considering upgrading to Storyline 3 but also wondering when Storyline 4 will be available Would appreciate any insight you have.
RenGomez
Staff
5 years ago
Hi Tarik,

Thanks for reaching out! We haven’t made any decisions about developing a new perpetual version of Storyline (aka Storyline 4), although Storyline 3 continues to be updated for bug fixes and is Flash-free. We also recently added some enhancements for accessibility, which you can read about here.

If you have any other questions, we're happy to answer them or feel free to connect with our team one-on-one!
- BrantForseng-f3
  Community Member
  5 years ago
  Hi Ren:
  
  It has been another three months since your reply to Tarik. Surely by now, years after the question was first posed, you can give us some idea of whether or not Storyline 4 is going to be developed and released?
  
  It is, frankly, head-scratching, that in all this time Articulate has not made a decision on this.
  
  I think most people on the forum understand that Articulate is putting most of its energy into the 360 suite (And why not? There is revenue every year, not just when a new version comes out as in a perpetual license).
  
  Moreover, I can understand an objective business decision to delay as long as possible, hoping to coax as many as possible away from a perpetual license and to the subscription model.
  
  That said, it has been *years*.
  
  Can you please tell us something other than no decision has been made and that you continue to support storyline 3 with bug fixes? And yes, we know that Storyline 3 is Flash-free.
  
  Regards,
  
  Brant
DomenicPedulla
Community Member
4 years ago
We may have to switch to Captivate. The fact that there are no plans for Storyline 4 with perpetual pricing is concerning.
- TimA1
  Community Member
  4 years ago
  My e-learning developer journey started with Captivate. But due to some geographical restrictions I could not upgrade without a local dealer, Also, one thing they have not resolved is the absence of partial scoring for fill-in-the-blanks. So, I used iSpring Quizmaker on combination with Storyline 3. But, then iSpring went cloud-based and the subscription cost is prohibiting. So, I have been working with Storyline 1,2, and now 3. Switching to 360 would not be possible due to the subscription cost - it is really geared towards companies and larger-scale enterprises. I am just one freelancer and do not have the volumes of commission needed to afford such subscriptions. Storyline 3 and hopefully 4 would be the best solution in terms of features and costs and the level of output. However, I do agree that if Storyline 4 does not come out, there is really one option only - go back to Captivate, possibly "2021" However, it takes them ages to roll out new versions as well. There are of course things like Active Presenter, but the adoption process would be difficult.
DanMyers
Community Member
3 years ago
Since Storyline 3 seems to have been effectively scrubbed from the website, I get the sinking feeling that there will be no Storyline 4.

Speaking for my company as well as the contractors we work with, we love Storyline 3, we would buy Storyline 4 in a heartbeat, but have zero interest in 360. The cost of the subscription model is just a non starter for the people who control the budgets.

I really, really, really hope you haven't written off the Storyline 3 holdouts who would jump at the next perpetual version.
JoanneMitchell
Community Member
3 years ago
I agree. I am a contractor who does different types of projects and, most often, is working on a client's machine with whatever software they're using. In the end, I use my own copy relatively rarely, so a subscription service is not practical for me. Please keep moving forward with Storyline 4!