Welcome to the club. Eventually these guys will take a hint and rework this whole scheme, because their reputation is on the line. Luckily there are plenty of alternatives available that do not charge hidden ongoing fees. Good luck!

jpietrangelo, just as webatomic said, we're doing our best to "rework this whole scheme".

Though I can't agree with your "the FREE versions of their software are kept up to date with the search engine algorithms"-argument (for example, when you take a car for a FREE test drive, you don't pay for anything, but when you buy that car, it turns out that you have to pay for gas, and for auto parts, and for many oher things - but for some reason you don't blame car manufacturers and don't call their strategy to be fishy, right? ), but, as I already said before, we're working on this issue, and (since you and some other users want such behaviour) pretty soon broken SEs will just be giving you incorrect results, leaving all other parts of the software working correctly.

And thank you for sharing you thoughts with us - this is what helps us to see our mistakes and move forward making the tools even better all the time.

My point was simple enough and has nothing to do with buying cars, paying for gas and parts, etc. That analogy sounds nice, but fails miserably. If you keep your free versions updated with current search engine algorithms, then you should do the same for the paid versions even when the Live Plan is not renewed. Now, if I'm wrong and you do NOT keep the free versions up-to-date, then I suppose we're at an impasse.

Assuming that you DO keep the free versions current, then as for what to do when someone does not renew their paid subscription plan, the answer is clear. Simply disable the feature(s) that exist between the free plans and the upgraded plans. I'm talking about printable/savable reports and such.

For those who, like myself, did not use those features as much as I had expected, it may be sufficient for the software to 'work,' in this crippled state, but with the search engine algorithms kept up-to-date. For others, and my guess is that there would be many, they would quickly pay the renewal fee in order to keep the report generation ability.

Jim

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Yeah, the car analogy doesn't cut it. SEO Powersuite is like buying a car and being offered a special extended warranty when you buy it. But what the dealer doesn't tell you is that if you don't buy the "special" warranty, your car stops running altogether after 10,000 miles. I'm glad you guys are going to enable the software to continue running, but I still know of no other SEO software that requires you to buy an ongoing subscription to stay "current with se algorithms".

To name a few:
- IBP
- Andvanced Web Ranking/Andvanced Link Manager
- WebCEO
- ... (don't want to list ALL our competitors here ;D)

Please go and check it yourself

For the past few weeks I have been evaulating what I consider to be the top contenders in SEO (Web CEO, IBP and SEO Powersuite) and up until I read this thread, I was considering purchasing the SEO Powersuite.

I'm fully aware that all major SEO software have charges for the algorithm updates so although I don't like it and wish they were included, at least for the 1st year, it seems to be a common practice so I do expect it.

What I want to know is if I purchase this product...

1) If I purchase the whole SEO Powersuite, where can I find the pricine for the algorithm updates? URL please?

2) If I choose not to upgrade the algorithms, will the software be nonfunctional after 6 months? Confirm or Deny?

3) Is your refund policy, a full refund if not satisfied within 30 days?

There is a calculator on our site, unfortunately you can not see the options without the license keys, se here they are:

price-t1616.html



The way it is now - you won't be able to gather any new data from the search engines; but you can open your old projects, export old data, print reports, re-structure them etc.



Yes

Really? Because when I put all four of the keys in for my enterprise version - I get $299 for 12 months (4 months free).

$300 to keep a $600 program up to date each year? Really... a 50% maintenance fee? I sure wish I had seen that on the page... and yeah... it's on the page... in the very fine print at the bottom!

Wow thanks for this thread guys, from both sides. This thread NEEDS to be stickied to the top of the site so anyone wanting to know what the solution will ACTUALLY cost will be clear as mud by reading this thread. For me this thread is why I have chosen NOT to buy the software.

I was just about to click the order now page and 'found' the link to the forums fortunately and then 'found' this thread - luckily for me I will not be gouged every 6 months to keep paid for software working. And by working I mean working, with search engine updates. While I appreciate there is a cost to update the solutions after 6 months to the latest search engine code the 6 months is NO WHERE near long enough for the price asking.

At the same time having software that still works but has no search engine code updated is just as bad as it being bricked - so no value there either.

I'd be happy to pay an annual fee for ALL updates that INCLUDE search engine updates, but I am not signing up to any 6 month live plan - that is just BS! in my view. While I appreciate the 6 months option the prices are in my view appalling....

My suggestions, if I buy at $149 (discounted rate today) then I should be able to get an annual update at say 40% of that so $59.60 (per year - i.e. 12 months not 6) and this should allow my paid for solution to be updated at anytime durting the year any updates are made available be that bug fix, functionaility of search engine code.

(note if you buy it at $249, then 40% of that would be $99.60, though I would suggest they have it capped at say $75 per year).

Surely at these prices you would attract more buyers and more people would be happier to be return clients and renew each year...

The awful bait part is the info on the products page wheich says that it includes free bug fixes and functionailty for LIFE - and then the asterix which then (if you bother to read it) advises about the Live PLan - sorry but functionaility to me also includes it to be able to keep up to date with search engines. And yes I appreciate that might be asking too much but your line about Free bug fix and functionaility updates is very badly worded and you need to make it clearer that this does not include search engine code updates - the asterix is NOT enough.

As I said I would be happy to buy it and pay a maintenance/update fee annually so that the solution can be updates as ANY update is released during the year so that the PAID for software I have got is always usable.

Please rethink your plan options, and turn them into an annual update option that is priced to attract updates than not.

Cheers again for all that posted in this thread.

Arghhhhh... why not just come clean with the prices, people BEFORE (i.e. they have no key yet) buying would like to know what the software will ACTUALLY cost them.....