Many of you have seen the small print about paid subscriptions and are wondering how it will work. I’ve created this topic in order to shed some light onto it.
Building and supporting such a sophisticated platform takes a lot of time and resources. And we put all our energy and passion into it. We hope that you like Blynk and would like to see it developing and becoming better with new awesome widgets and features.
First of all, we are not going to take away what you already have. All of your projects and widgets will stay with you. However if you would like to get access to new widgets and some extra functionality you will need to upgrade.
There will be 2 plans: Free and FullBox
Free will include:
Access to 8 Widgets
1 Project
1 User to share your app
Full Box will include:
All Widgets + Lifetime updates
Every time we add a new widget or new feature – it’s unlocked for you
Unlimited projects
You’ll be able to create as many projects as you want -
5 Users to share your apps
Share every Project with 5 people. You can add more if needed.
Full Box monthly subscription cost will start from ~$2.50 / Month
Those who backed us on Kickstarter will get access to Full Box according to the pledge level
We are excited to make Blynk the best solution for you. So much more cool stuff to build, we can’t wait!
Looking forward to your continuous support!
I think this is a great system. Might I recommend one more tier for a small business? I am not exactly sure what it would look like but I see Blynk as soon becoming a launching pad for many ideas, inventions and businesses. I am hoping to use Blynk in such a manner once the dust settles and Blynk really hits it’s stride. Thanks again, Blynk is incredible!
I personally think one project for the free version is not enough. This could be 2 or 3 in order to let people realize the power of multiple projects. “1” versus “unlimited” seems a bit off if you ask me
The subscription cost is fine I think, it’s just a small amount and people will probably gladly pay it once they see the free version.
Are there already thoughts about which widgets are included in the free version? And will the standalone server be available for free version or just fullbox?
Hope that buying for a year upfront or more will be possible at lower monthly cost?
5 users to share app seems like not too much… Making home automation and sharing with a whole family in which almost everybody owns a tablet and a phone, hmm… But what does mean “you can add mor if needed”?
I would think that is very reasonable to support Blynk development. And perhaps to have tiered Full Box, i.e. $2.5 for 10 user share, $5usd for 20 user share, $7.5 for 100, more than that would need to talk to Blynk.io.
Also how about 3euros for unlimited local server share license, to match Scaleway bare metal offering (could be good to offer the Bundle with scaleway).
@akm17
Good comment! We might consider changing the limit of subscriptions per project. However we would like to stay simple and have clear subscription plans.
Adding more users should be a separate purchase, what do you think?
@Zhuoyang
Local server will be treated similarly. However, we might consider taking off sharing limits if you use Local Blynk Server. This is very logical since we reduce the load on our server.
Well, you know, if you want to experience the full solution and it’s possibilities you need to be able to try things out but with a limitation. The trick is, from a commercial point of view, to have the limitation just limiting enough to persuade people buy the full package.
I think 2 or 3 is nice to experience it but not enough for serious home use. Just trying to think from a commercial point of view (at which I’m not really good, LOL).
If the restrictions don’t apply for local server I’d definitely go there, but I have a ten year background in IT so that’s kind of obvious for me, I do however like to support the development of Blynk.
Maybe introduce a reduced one-time-payment to get the full Local Server and have the free one on the same restrictions as the free cloud-solution? That could be something.
Cheaper than renting server and doing all by yourself, but still a bit costly considering how much still needs to be done and fixed…
Do you plan to give possibility to buy life-time licence or at least more than a year? I hate subscription plans:P
And as you might have noticed, Blynk is a very live project constanly evolving and enhancing. Specifically fixing and adding functionality requires resources.
We will stick to subscription for now, however Blynk is a dynamic product and if we see/feel something would work better - for sure we’ll be eager to adapt.
I am specifically looking for robot controls. Let’s say a car with differential steering. Will this be a widget in the paid subscription or the free versions as well. I think adding the car driving functions would better in the free version for promotion with more advanced robotic features in the paid subscription.
I am using blink with ESP8266 to offset the cost of providing robotics to kids in poor neighborhoods out of pocket so this would definitely help. I would also need more users for the workshop but not all through the month, just 2 days out of the month. I’m not sure how that will fit the model, but I am impressed with Blynk so far.
I totally understand your concerns. However, Blynk is a full-time project for a 5 people team… Software is not written by itself as well as design is not designed on it’s own, you should understand that.
If Blynk saves your time, makes it easier and more engaging for kids to get into electronics - doesn’t it mean that it worth something?
Also, in your particular case, we would be happy to provide you with free access to the Full Box for your classes. It seems like an incredible initiative! Especially if you would agree to share some information about it, post videos or tutorials - we are very open and eager to help!
I would like to see a “free” development and a single “paid” for deployment.
For example, a 30 day AUTH TOKEN that expires. If you are still in development, then get another free token, edit all your software and continue development.
When you are happy with your project, buy a AUTH TOKEN that lasts a lifetime.
If you are developing something for sale, then you would need to buy a token for each deployment. If you are using it yourself, then you would only need a token for each project.
