It looks like Siemens PLM Software is getting more serious about a subscription pricing model for its software.
Late last year, the company announced a partnership with Local Motors, a car company built around the concept of co-creation, to offer Design1, a version of its Solid Edge 3D CAD tool made available to the Local Motors community for a subscription price of $19.95 a month. After testing the waters with that subscription licensing model, Siemens PLM Software is now following up with a offering that lets the Local Motors global community choose from multiple levels of its CAD program, depending on their specific design needs.
Users participating in the Local Motors co-creation community can now choose from multiple levels of Solid Edge functionality to match their design requirements.
The initial Solid Edge Design1 offered Solid Edge's base technology, including 3D parts modeling with its synchronous technology, but at a price point closer to the low-cost CAD tools that are popular with design enthusiasts. With this announcement, Siemens PLM Software is giving the community a choice of moving up the functional ladder to license additional modules, including Solid Edge Design and Drafting, Solid Edge Foundation Solid Edge Classic, and, eventually, Solid Edge Premium.
Expanding on the Solid Edge Design1 building block, users within the Local Motors community can purchase on a subscription basis: Solid Edge Design and Drafting, which adds professional-level drafting and history-based modeling for $99 a month; Solid Edge Foundation, which includes surfacing, sheet metal modeling, and frames, among other functions, for $179 a month; Solid Edge Classic, which adds photorealistic rendering, basic FEA capabilities, and standard parts for $229 a month; and Solid Edge Premium, the top-of-the-line offering, which delivers full FEA simulation, wire harness design functions, pipe and tube routing, and other high-end functions, for a monthly license fee of $299.
I have to applaud the Solid Edge team's efforts to explore novel and more budget-friendly ways of pricing CAD software. While they are not quite near the levels of the many lower-cost CAD tools currently available, I think we'll see more iterations of this kind of multi-tier, monthly subscription price model from them and perhaps other CAD vendors--and not just for a specialty community like Local Motors. I see these announcements as a simple testing of the waters.
Nice article, Beth. I would imagine that most PLM software would work well in the subscription model. Let the software maker own the software. All the user needs is the functionality. I would imagine the subscription model would also lend itself more to continual updates. But maybe the pricing model doesn't affect the update process.
Rob, yes PLM does lend itself well to the subscription model. In this case, it's not that the software is owned and run by and at the provider, however, as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model. This is purely a pay-by-the-month and pay-by-the-pound usage model, which is helpful, particularly for smaller companies wanting to take advantage of PLM without the huge upfront licensing costs.
So a top-of-line offering with full FEA, wireharness and design functions, pipe and tube routing and other features is $299/month? A price of $3,600 per year for all that seems amazingly low to me. How does that compare with, say, a few years ago?
I see this as a good way for schools or after school clubs to affordably share this product with younger students that are learning about 3D CAD and drawing. It's a really good way to get into a market that might be more accessible on a per month type basis.
@jmiller. I agree. I don't think this is the license for students/educational facilities because it's too expensive. But the Solid Edge team did come out with a license specifically for students as have other CAD providers. The student edition of Solid Edge is available to full- or part-time students as a free, 12-month license, only available via download. The version is not intended to be used for commercial purposes so it can't share CAD models with professional versions of Solid Edge like the ones Local Motors is offering to its community.
Curious, does it allow you to share models with other student versions? Quite often in the classroom more and more teachers are focusing on team work and working in groups. Having the ability to share with other students would be very helpful. I understand the reason they don't want files shared with the professional versions.
My guess is that there is some sort of share capability for other Student editions of Solid Edge, but that you can share models across versions with the Professional portfolio. In that way, they encourage the team collaboration in class that you're referring to without any risk of companies buying it for professional use because it is a cheaper option.
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