Back in September, we announced major new features for our next release. However, in December, we shared that we had delayed the release.
Now that it’s June, we owe you an update, and an explanation for the delay.
The good news is that the release is coming along well, and that it will be our biggest one yet. The delay was not due to development issues, but because we have been adding new features. Many of these features have been requested by our customers for years.
(Spoiler alert: Calcapp Creator is finally getting support for undo and redo, an editor for data tables, formulas that perform actions when buttons are pressed, lots of new button types and much-improved formula editing, not to mention lots of quality-of-life improvements. For more, read the blog posts linked to above.)
So, why did we decide to include all these features in a single big release instead of releasing them individually? To answer that, let’s step back and consider what you get with your subscription.
What’s in a subscription?
Calcapp is licenced on a subscription basis, meaning that you pay us a monthly or annual fee to get access. Here’s what you’re getting for your money:
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Reliable servers. Your users should have unimpeded access to your apps, and you should be able to update them with no downtime. It’s a rare week when we don’t achieve 100% uptime.
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Timely bug fixes. We constantly fix bugs to ensure a smooth experience. In 2020, we had to rewrite our support for offline apps due to changes in web browser technology. Our customers didn’t notice the difference, and that’s how it should be.
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Support. We offer assistance, troubleshooting and guidance as part of your subscription. Need help adapting or troubleshooting your app? Just write us an email, or open the chat window.
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New features. We always strive to improve Calcapp with new features that enhance your experience and make possible new kinds of apps.
Upcoming changes to our subscription plans
Our new release will introduce higher-priced subscription plans. If you don’t explicitly upgrade your apps to the new plans, they will remain on the original plans, at the original price. That means that you won’t see your costs go up unless you change to one of the new plans.
We introduced paid plans over four years ago and we have never raised our prices since then. Once our next release is complete, Calcapp will be a significantly better product than it was in 2019, and it will continue to improve. We offer features not found elsewhere, including the best formula engine in the business, yet remain more affordable than the competition. We think we can justify more expensive plans on the basis of features alone.
Also, our operational costs have gone up over the past year, and a revenue boost would be welcome. We understand that many of our customers are in the same boat, though, and we’d like not to add to any financial woes you may be experiencing.
That’s why it’s important to us that if you make no changes to your subscription, your prices won’t go up. It’s our way of saying “thank you” to our existing customers, who have enabled us to work full-time on our favorite project.
Some of the new features we plan to deliver will be exclusive to our new plans, meaning you’ll need to upgrade in order to access them.
At the same time, we want to ensure that you continue to receive significant value from your subscription, even if you choose not to upgrade. As noted above, one of the pillars of our subscriptions is getting access to new features for as long as you subscribe, and we don’t want that to change, no matter if you upgrade to a new plan or not.
That brings us to why we decided to put so many new features in our upcoming release. The reason is that we want to deliver new features not only for customers who choose to upgrade, but also to customers who elect not to. And that requires a big release.
You won’t be able to move your apps to our existing subscription plans once our new release is out. If you want to lock in the lower prices, be sure to make all subscription changes as soon as possible.
Beta testers needed
When we started charging for Calcapp in 2019, it had been in beta since early 2016. That long beta period helped us deliver a rock-solid product.
Considering the ambitious nature of our new release, we believe a new beta program is necessary to ensure it meets our standards. Do you want early access to the new release, to help us identify bugs before we ship? If so, please get in touch with us!