Starting with the Jungle Disk 2.6 release we’ll be offering a new subscription option for the Desktop Edition of Jungle Disk. While the lifetime purchase pricing for Jungle Disk has proven extremely popular, we’ve found that it does pose a barrier to adoption for some customers because of the upfront cost. The optional Jungle Disk Plus subscription adds further confusion to new users who may not understand what it adds over the basic Jungle Disk purchase.
Under the new subscription pricing option, new users can get a license for Jungle Disk Desktop including all the Jungle Disk Plus features for a flat $2/month with no upfront purchase. Just like now, a single license can be used on multiple computers at no additional cost.
Our current users (most of you reading this) won’t be affected at all – we aren’t adding a new product or additional subscription for existing users. The Jungle Disk Plus features will continue to be $1/month for lifetime licenses holders.
The primary reason for this pricing option is a desire to simplify pricing for new users, especially as our customer base expands from early adopters to mainstream consumers. With the new subscription pricing as well as the simplified pricing for storage from Rackspace Cloud Files, new users will be able to get unlimited online storage for a flat $2/month + $0.15/gb. Compared to the current pricing formula of $20 + $1/month + $0.15/gb + requests + bandwidth we think that’s a big improvement.
42 Comments
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Dylan said,
March 9, 2009 @ 6:51 pm
I am an existing user. Will it be possible for me to switch to the pricing for storage from Rackspace Cloud Files? The pricing formula seems a bit more attractive for my situation.
Thanks.
Jungle Dave said,
March 9, 2009 @ 7:47 pm
@Dylan – Yes, existing users can choose between Amazon S3 and Cloud Files.
David S. said,
March 9, 2009 @ 11:13 pm
Sounds great, I think that’s a very smart choice, although I think you should give people a lifetime license after they’ve owned JD for, say, 20 months? That way, you’ll be making about the same, just spreading out the cost. In reality, that’s a long time to see ahead, but that will make a big impression on users, thinking of it like layaway.
Furthermore, when are we gonna see an Apache mod so I can backup my server with Jungle Disk
Thanks for all the great work, Dave.
Chris said,
March 10, 2009 @ 9:48 am
Has anyone been testing with Cloud Files? The pricing is more attractive for sure and I’m hearing it’s “reliable”, but is it as reliable as Amazon?
Also, as an S3 user, how hard will it be to move my backups over to CF?
XavierL said,
March 10, 2009 @ 11:11 am
( I have the one-time $20 license + the $1/month JungleDisk Plus option. And I’m very happy of the services I get for about two years now.
My question is (Maybe I failed to understand something – it happens to me all the times
New customers can only go for the new $2 a month offer. Is there any reason for a “old” customer to switch to the new pricing policy? to swicth to Cloud Files?
XavierL
Jungle Dave said,
March 10, 2009 @ 11:55 am
@XavierL – New customers will have a choice of either pricing option. There’s no reason for existing customers to switch – you can use Cloud Files in Jungle Disk 2.6 after a free upgrade.
@Chris – Cloud Files has been in public use (for other applications) since last May, and has been in private beta testing with Jungle Disk by Rackspace employees for the last several weeks. While it doesn’t yet have the long track record of Amazon we’ve been very happy with the reliability so far. If you decide to move over you’ll need to re-upload your data, although we are planning on offering an automatic migration service in the future to avoid this step.
David L said,
March 10, 2009 @ 12:20 pm
I’m looking forward to it! Will the reseller pricing still be the same? The 2$/mo plus $0.15/GB is an awesome deal.
Thanks for your hard work!
Mike Mayo said,
March 10, 2009 @ 12:26 pm
I’ve been waiting on Cloud Files to be an option before trying out Jungle Disk, so this is great! Any word on a release date yet?
Khürt Williams said,
March 10, 2009 @ 3:01 pm
If I understand this correctly; my monthly cost may go down if I switch to the Rackspace Cloud Files system? Will I be able to move my data to Rackspace and later if I decide that I preferred Amazon S3 can I switch back?
Jungle Dave said,
March 10, 2009 @ 3:16 pm
@David – Yes, reseller pricing remains the same and you will be able to start using Cloud Files with the 2.6 release.
@Mike – Soon!
@Khurt – yes, but you’ll need to see how much you’re paying in bandwidth and request fees on your S3 bill to see how much. You can use both services or switch between them in Jungle Disk all you want.
Dylan said,
March 10, 2009 @ 4:45 pm
I have been quite pleased with Amazon S3 but my daily backups of my constantly changing files is racking up bandwidth fees that are more than I would like (not bad, but I’m on a budget).
So anyways, if rackspace has free bandwidth charges then I will likely jump all over that.
I hope we see JD 2.6 soon!
beq said,
March 10, 2009 @ 10:26 pm
I’m also looking forward to this. I hope that upon the 2.6 rollout you guys will be able to provide more information about the backend infrastructure of Cloud Files vs S3, to help users with the decision to switch (other than price). For example, some users might even think that because Jungle Disk Cloud Files is cheaper, it won’t have the same performance.
Also, any chance that the rollout will coincide with a revamped Web Access site (which support had said might be coming soon)?
Jeff said,
April 8, 2009 @ 6:09 pm
The bad news is that the new Jungle Disk Desktop edition does not support multiple users on a computer. With the old version (Jungle Disk Plus) each account on a computer could have different disk. Now, it is necessary to get the Workgroup edition…
Adam said,
April 9, 2009 @ 11:00 am
@Jeff – One good way to have multiple users on a computer is to use multiple copies of the USB version.
Tom said,
June 15, 2009 @ 9:56 pm
I already have purchased Jungle Disk, so this doesn’t apply to me, but I can’t seem to locate any way to sign someone up for the $20 one-time purchase now. The only option on the pricing page is the subscription model.
How does one sign up for the $20 version now?
Chris said,
July 13, 2009 @ 1:36 pm
Is it still possible to purchase the lifetime license? I don’t want JungleDisk pro or monthly charges, I’d just like the JungleDisk application. Thanks!
Edward Reid said,
July 26, 2009 @ 1:33 pm
I went into the “purchase a second license” to check on the pricing for a family member. I got all the way to the Amazon charge screen and never saw the old style pricing. The old style pricing also is not listed on the pricing page. Obviously for someone who fully intends to use JD for two years or more, the old style pricing is better. Where do I find it? Or has this announcement been completely retracted and the old style pricing dropped entirely? This announcement says it’s filed under News and Desktop News, but when I click on those links, I don’t find it.
Jungle Dave said,
July 27, 2009 @ 9:14 am
@Edward – the $20 license is no longer available. We found having both (plus the Plus subscription) was increasing confusion over our pricing, and the single monthly price was the simplest option.
Guy said,
July 27, 2009 @ 2:53 pm
@JungleDave – that’s a bit disappointing though, as Edward pointed out, the old-style pricing is going to work out cheaper for long-term users.
Jungle Dave said,
July 27, 2009 @ 4:06 pm
@Guy – Due to the confusion factor it only made sense to have a single price, and the single monthly price (versus lifetime license + monthly plus charges) was the best option. The difference to most users, even over multiple years, will probably only be a small amount compared to their overall storage fees.
Edward Reid said,
July 29, 2009 @ 4:14 pm
Thanks for clarifying, Dave. I agree, the difference in cost is small overall, and there’s a significant advantage in simplicity and in letting people get started for only $2.
Edward
jungle jim said,
August 4, 2009 @ 8:49 pm
“confusion factor”? Nice… your customers are that dumb, huh?
The only factor here is money. Lets look at 10 years of using this service…
One time purchase of $20 vs. $240 for the subscription model and who knows when their monthly fee will go up next?
chris hough said,
August 5, 2009 @ 11:09 am
the new rackspace pricing model will definitely save me some $$$ each month. I have noticed recently that my storage costs have not fluctuated too much but the request charges have really ramped up, is there an anticipated release date for 2.6? you also mentioned a tool to migrate backups from S3 to Rackspace, is there a tentative date when that will be available and will there be an extra cost for that service?
I have to say I really enjoy using your product and recommend it to my colleagues, keep up the good work.
Jungle Dave said,
August 25, 2009 @ 4:10 pm
@jim – First off, you’re not comparing apples to apples. The $2/month subscriptions includes the Jungle Disk Plus features which were formerly $1/month in addition to the software purchase. That pushes the “break even” point between the two past two years, meaning we need to keep customers an average of over two years before we make what we would have under the previous pricing. Trust me when I say I’d far rather have the money up front – but at the end of the day, users prefer a simpler single monthly fee rather than the odd combination of flat rate + subscription pricing we had before.
On the plus side, we now have a huge incentive to make sure our existing customers stay happy – through new features, upgrades, and addressing any outstanding issues. If we don’t, that subscription revenue dries up quickly.
Tomer Chachamu said,
September 5, 2009 @ 6:09 pm
What happens when we stop paying the $2/month? Will we still be able to use Jungle Disk software to restore old files?
And is there any way to go without Jungle Disk Plus?
*A vote from me to restore the old pricing option* Believe me, I’de rather pay you up front!
KieranMullen said,
September 8, 2009 @ 3:40 am
How was the low cost of the software a barrier to entry and having 2 products to choose from confusing? Ever go to the grocery store to buy anything? Plenty of choices there. This was all a move my rackspace to move clients to their storage cloud.
Jungle Dave said,
September 8, 2009 @ 11:29 am
The pricing change was actually decided long before the Rackspace deal, and has no bearing on the storage options.
Jungle Dave said,
September 8, 2009 @ 11:33 am
We know that some users prefer a one-time purchase, but that option wasn’t tenable for the long term as we continue to add more backend-supported features that require subscriptions to cover our costs. Rather than have a complex set of choices, a simple $2/month flat subscription was the best option.
Andrew said,
September 23, 2009 @ 11:23 am
@JungleDave – I appreciate the candor of your last response. Had you simply said *to start with* that you couldn’t make your plans for continued improvements work without shifting to a subscription based service model, we would have understood your position — maybe not liked it — but understood that you were radically changing things *on purpose*.
Instead, what we heard was that we’re offering new options … No, we’re simplifying things … No, we’re making it easier to sign up … No, …
You get the idea. Tell us what you’re doing. Don’t make us guess. I’m sure they’ll still be upset folks, but at least we’ll all know what to be upset about.
Jungle Dave said,
September 23, 2009 @ 2:50 pm
@Andrew – there were multiple reasons for the decision, all of them valid reasons for moving to a subscription model. The confusion factor of the fixed price + subscription + usage based pricing was the primary reason. The impossibility of offering certain future features was primarily a reason for discontinuing the purchase option, otherwise we might have still offered it as an option. We try to be open about our decisions but it can be difficult to clearly explain all the thinking that goes behind them.
John C said,
October 2, 2009 @ 7:25 am
Something I don’t get…
Is the billing for the S3 account through JungleDisk or is it directly to me from Amazon?
What happens if JungleDisk disappears overnight? (how many other cloud storage site have gone away in the past years).
Jungle Dave said,
October 2, 2009 @ 9:21 am
If you use a personal S3 account, the billing will be through Amazon, otherwise through Jungle Disk.
In regards to our stability, our acquisition by Rackspace last year (a large, profitable, public company committed to the cloud) should eliminate any concerns that we might disappear overnight.
Marcus L said,
October 20, 2009 @ 11:12 am
I’ve bought 2 JungleDisk licenses in the past, one for myself and one for my business. I do not want any of the “Plus” features such as accessing my JungleDisk files over the web, due to the requirement of having to give my Amazon S3 credentials to JungleDisk (which also allow access to my SimpleDB databases & EC2 instances).
For my use-case (and, I suspect, many others) the “perpetual licensing” cost is unjustified as JungleDisk is not providing any additional value for the monthly expense. The option to forgo monthly licensing costs was the primary reason I avoided other services such as Mozy/DropBox/Box.net in favor of JungleDisk.
I strongly recommend JungleDisk to reconsider the decision to remove the “lifetime” license option, as that is the only type of license that I would consider buying, and I can no longer recommend JungleDisk to others with this change in licensing scheme.
Jungle Dave said,
October 20, 2009 @ 12:14 pm
Marcus – do you consider ongoing support and upgrades important? Subscription or maintenance fees are needed to fund ongoing support and development. Of course our existing lifetime users get support and upgrades forever for free – but consider that your reward as an early adopter!
We could do what many companies do, which is sell you a perpetual license, then charge a percentage every year for support, plus big upgrade fees whenever a new version comes out, but we felt a low monthly subscription fee was a much simpler model.
Richard B. said,
October 28, 2009 @ 8:40 pm
I would also like to see the old lifetime licence brought back. One of the points for removing it was that a lot of the new features required a “Plus” licence. however, people without a “Plus” licence aren’t using any of these new features, so unless some of the original features are removed in the future, then the implementation of these new features wouldn’t affect them.
I find it hard to believe it’s really that confusing, but if it has been, then why not hide a link to buy the lifetime licence on a separate page (eg. this blog entry), and keep the main purchase/pricing pages as they are with the single perpetual licence.
I was considering using JungleDisk, if I could get a lifetime licence, but without it as an option you have lost a customer.
Richard B. said,
October 28, 2009 @ 8:47 pm
Further to my previous post…
Effectively, you are penalising users who don’t wish to use “Plus” features. These users will be forced to pay for the development of features they won’t use.
Also, for people who do wish to have “Plus” features, why not reduce their pricing to $1/month after 20 months (ie. once they have paid for the app).
Curt W. said,
October 30, 2009 @ 4:49 pm
I am a long time user with a lifetime license. I haven’t updated since Jungle Disk 2.10. I would like to do so, but I am unclear as to whether or not I will have to switch to the new $2/mo plan. Are previous lifetime users still able to continue using the newer versions of the software without switching to the subscription model? I know that when you first offered this model that was true but haven’t been able to verify that it’s still the case. Thanks!
Jungle Dave said,
October 30, 2009 @ 10:25 pm
Curt – upgrades will continue to be free for lifetime users.
Aaron CPA said,
November 5, 2009 @ 2:44 pm
Here’s my perspective: JungleDisk and Rackspace (Publicly Traded Company) aren’t allowed to recognize any revenue on sales of lifetime licenses with free upgrades because of the accounting rules that a publicly traded company has to abide by. So, even though they get the cash up front for the software, because they do free lifetime upgrades, they are never allowed to recognize revenue on their books, and every year their income statement shows a huge loss. Welcome to the world of public companies. They make decisions based on investors rather than customers.
We were considering purchasing several Jungle Disk licenses for our company, but since the lifetime subscription model is gone, we may reconsider.
Jungle Dave said,
November 5, 2009 @ 3:13 pm
@Aaron – while you have a point regarding accounting rules, that did not enter into the decision to move to subscription licensing, which was a decision made before the Rackspace deal. We’ve already stated our reasons for moving to subscriptions, including simplified pricing, lower cost of entry, and ability to continue offering support and upgrades without charging software maintenance fees. Given that users are already paying for storage on a monthly basis, a reasonable charge for the software seems fair and simple.
Roman said,
December 8, 2009 @ 5:33 am
“fair and simple” – and a lot more expensive, too. $20 forever vs. $36 per year is a world of a difference.
So much, in fact, that the new user I was trying to sign up is gone looking elsewhere. The moment you turn off the existing lifetime licenses (which, I’m sure, is only a question of time) the 4 of us here will be gone too.
People hate paying for updates, but I personally hate paying a subscription, because I must pay regardless of whether I use your new features or, in fact, regardless of whether you actually introduce any new features.
Martin Baker said,
April 2, 2010 @ 11:25 am
Geez.. I hardly think anyone can blame Jungle Disk for moving to a subscription model. The “buy once and forget” model was clearly unsustainable long term and I can see that the various options were confusing to customers.