In this guide, you’ll discover which payment option might be best for you based on how you plan to use our software.
Subscription or Perpetual License?
Find out the differences between our payment options and the cost of ownership for you.
A subscription is for you if:
You always want to have the latest version of Capture One Pro and get all new features and updates as soon as we release them. If you choose our annual payment option, it will be the cheapest option for you.
When you stop your subscription, you will lose access to the software. However, our subscriber Loyalty Program allows you to purchase a perpetual license with a 20% discount for each year you have been a subscriber (yes, that means after 5 years you can get it for free). That way even if you stop your subscription, you will always have a version of Capture One Pro to keep and that supports your catalogs and sessions.
Read more about how our Loyalty Program works here.
A perpetual license is for you if:
You don’t need new features and improvements and don’t plan to invest in new camera hardware any time soon. The copy of Capture One Pro you have will continue to work as long as your hardware and operating system support it. You are happy to buy a new copy of the software if you want to get the latest version.
You own the software outright and it will continue to work as long as your hardware and operating system support it. You are happy to buy a new copy of the software if you want to be on the latest version.
Please note that our Loyalty Program allows you to purchase a perpetual license at a discount if you stop a subscription. You’ll get 20% off for each year you have been a subscriber (yes, that means after 5 years you can get it for free). That way you will always have a version of Capture One Pro that you own and supports your catalog.
Read more about how our Loyalty Program works here.
Which option is best for me?
I want new features and updates as soon as they’re ready
An annual subscription is always the cheapest option for you.
I want new features and updates as soon as they’re ready, and have access to my catalog after I stop my subscription
The cheapest option for you is to get an annual subscription, and then get a perpetual license through our Loyalty Program when you want to stop the subscription.
I don’t need new features right away and I don’t buy new camera gear often
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If you would like to get new features and updates more than once a year, it will always be cheaper for you to have an annual subscription and then buy a perpetual license through our loyalty program when you stop your subscription.
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If you would like to get new features and updates once a year and plan to use Capture One Pro for at least three years, it will be cheaper for you to have an annual subscription and then buy a perpetual license through our loyalty program when you stop your subscription.
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If you would like to get new features and updates once every 2 or more years, a perpetual license is the cheapest option for you.
I don’t want a subscription
A perpetual license is the best option for you.
What are the differences in the cost of ownership?
For those of you that want to dive into the details, we’ve done the work for you. Here is a breakdown of how much it will cost you over 6 years, including the difference after changes to our perpetual licenses coming on 14 February, 2023.
Annual Prepaid subscription vs. Perpetual License
Prices are in USD and are indicative. Prices may vary in your local currency set by our payment provider. Prices are excluding sales tax / VAT. If you have a business number this charge will be removed on checkout.
Annual Prepaid subscription, then move to a Perpetual License vs. Perpetual License
Prices are in USD and are indicative. Prices may vary in your local currency set by our payment provider. Prices are excluding sales tax / VAT. If you have a business number this charge will be removed on checkout.
The Terms and Conditions of your license purchases (made via our web store) are always accessible from your Capture One account under the 'Plans & Services Management' section:
Comments
221 comments
You want to get rid of your customers. Well done! This is really annoying.
Good luck 🍀 9.99 for LR
$299 for an upgrade from version 22, are you joking? I was really happy with the Sony Pro version but now you're uncompetitive. Suggest you take a long hard look at yourselves while I look for something else.
I am always wondering why I can not rent the software for a day?
Sorry C1 you must publish all this stuff in German, French, etc. Even native English speakers seem not to understand all that stuff...
Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof…
Sad story after many years. Adobe was left by many because of the subscription. That's when C1 became attractive to lots of users. I have used it for a long time. The scheme makes no sense.
Absurdly complicated. The first rule of business is don't confuse your customers. I've enjoyed using Capture One over the years but I won't be pursuing any of these options - way too expensive and I can get better value elsewhere. LR has improved massively in recent iterations and now gives me all I need for a modest subscription fee.
So it’s official then, you’re effectively alienating your customer base. Good riddance
Did chatGPT write this?
It is almost coherent and understandable.
That is not a loyalty plan, that name is just not honest. I paied less until now with the upgrades per year and did not have to fear to loose access to my catalog without paying.
OK...then it is clear for me.
C1-23 was my last version and then good bye C1.
It is my hard earned money that you will not get. There are other possibilities.
You forgot to add the Adobe column to your tables where you get a great C1 competitor plus Photoshop for a whole lot less!
Seriously though, I'm glad I skipped 23 and looked at other options. Looks like PhotoLab 6 just got a new customer.
This company don’t care if we stay or leave. They don’t need loyal brand users.
Hi, last year I spent 140 Euro to upgrade from 22 to 23. Quite a difference from your upcoming “loyalty” statement. I’m using your software since v3 and I can imagine how much it costs to develop and improve constantly as you do. Having say that is a 30-40% increase since last year, not a small step.
It's clear now the company thinks the target audience for Capture One Pro are 'Professionals' and not Amateurs/Enthusiasts. They tried to attract new users with 'simple' HDR and Panorama tools, but the recent updates (including Capture One Live) seem to be geared toward fashion/wedding/product photographers.
Remember the time Adobe sold perpetual license for Lightroom and Photoshop: they were aimed at professional users with hefty price tags. By moving to the subscription model and effectively lowering the prices (especially for the photographers plan) they managed to increase the user base and the total revenue.
Capture One seems to take the opposite direction: trying to increase the revenue by increasing the prices (while decreasing the user base...).
incomprehensibleAdobe lost me when they forced users to rent software, so I moved to C1. These new pricing proposals and a thinly veiled attempt to move users to subscription are going to drive me away. I have already downloaded a trial of DXO Photolab and I am sufficiently impressed to swap. These changes have lost C1 my upgrade and I used to upgrade regularly - I can’t recall when I skipped a version, although I have to say the implementation of stitching was so poor in the last version that it was hardly worth having, so I question where is the incentive to accept a higher cost model in future?
I won't do any more expensive upgrades after the 23 (16.0.1.17...?), a recent version of DXO photolab 6 much less "swarming" presents itself as a first class challenger!
ByeBye C1
This is the most incomprehensible document I have ever read. As a former 13 year employee of Phase One I can say I have never seen anything like this. I am forced into this because I have so much riding on Capture One and so many years of sessions and catalogs, and I AM NOT HAPPY. Worst presentation ever to convince people to move to a subscription model. They don't even throw in the iPad version, which is pretty much useless compared to other apps out there. Jeezzz, I'll do a subscription model because I have websites I run and workshops I run where I will need to have Capture One. But I am having a lot of fun in Lightroom these days, and more people use Lightroom. I also haven't seen all that many new features in Capture One these past few years. No printing module that is worth anything, Catalogs I still don't trust, and no history pallet, LR has shown some brilliant AI masking features that work really well. You could have at least teased us with what features you may be releasing with the subscription model through the reast of the year. I am so disappointed in this uter mess. Who does the marketing there these days? I have also heard support is not there. For these prices you should be doing so much more. Tonight as let my nrevs and anger ettle down I'll make choices what will be my platofrm I use for teaching and such. Right now Capture One isn't sitting pretty. You guys between the iPad and this new model are costing a small fortune. So, while I never thought I would say thgis it looks like I will go over the LR and PS side. Shame on you guys.
I'll jump on and agree the pricing tables presented are incomprehensible. I suspect deliberately so. I've been a professional C1 user since its inception. It's, for the most part, great camera control software for my studio environment.
23 will be my last upgrade and I'll be investigating alternatives. Good luck with your "loyalty" program. You just cost yourself many, many previously loyal customers. You're not as essential to pro workflows as you may think you are. Adobe products do most of what C1 does, but better. I can find another way to click the shutter from my desktop.
Oh, and whoever presented this idea and pricing structure in the meeting should have their bonus rescinded. Your short sightedness will come back to bite you. Remember this in the meeting two years from now when you're discussing why profits have "inexplicably" fallen off.
C1 user since the beginning. Just tried lightroom for the 1st time ever, it comes included in my 9.99 PS subscription. Took me 5 minutes to learn how to import, edit, output images from a shoot yesterday. Quite impressed having shunned it for so long. I'll carry on with my current C1 until it is no longer compatible and then ditch it.
Will licenses still be sold via other channels like photo gear (web)shops?
I entered the C1 'world' end of 2021 with a new license, which then cost me only €170. Even a discounted upgrade of 22 to 23 would now cost me €209.
At this rate I'll go for the option; Do nothing and wait for a next black friday deal on a discounted new license instead of upgrading.
It's in my opinion fine that a perpetual license does not give the right to receive new features afterwards, you however still don't say anything about how long you will deliver bug fixes. That'll surely be longer than the few months until a new 1.x (dot version) is released? Right?
I switched to Capture One 4 years ago. I have been a big and vocal fan, telling many other photographers they should try it. But all these confusing games and price increases and left me with the same response as many above... I no longer trust Capture One as a company and will be seeking new options. Capture One seems to be caught in there own greedy echo chamber and doing a money grab without listening to customers. Very sad.
Wow, I'm not sure how you could have made this any more opaque. If I'm interpreting this new model correctly, it is far more expensive than the competition. A very bad business strategy.
If you have to charge this much you are either greedy or your coders suck.
Figure out a way to be more efficient to increase your profits because this isn't the way to do it.
I switched to C1 because I hated Adobe's subscription model now I'm switching to Affinity because I hate your company as much as I hate Adobe.
... correction I hate CaptureOne more:)
How do I import my Capture One catalog into LR?
Thanks for typing so many things, and all is useless.
Well look, I have to thank you because I was hesitating to go back to Lightroom, now I have it clear.
In addition to feeling scammed by some painful updates, which they then "fix" with an update a few months later, now they drop this "mess" (please, look for a writing advisor) that is not understood, and with the word loyalty? Look, we are faithful idiots who buy you an update license year after year that is (sorry) shit.
And by the way, only English language... such an incomprehensible text... big mistake, like mine, to continue paying you.
I switched to C1 because of the Adobe subscription model so I'm not happy about this change, besides which, it is very confusing. That chart does not help. As it is, I already export files that need big changes to Affinity Photo 2 because I find most of the tools better for graphic design, my main interest. I started on C1 v9 and have upgraded every year since, including v23. Until I understand the changes I will do nothing but eventually I'll be looking at all my options and I'm not feeling a lot of loyalty when I think of C1 right now.
Did some investment bank company buy Capture One? Seems like they are just trying to build some kind of pyramid scheme or something? Or is there a new CEO that cooked this thing up in their own head? After reading and re-reading this support post and the corresponding links to all the other posts trying to explain what C1 is doing with their pricing, I am still confused. I feel like a piece of the map is just missing or we have all been pulled into some weird Jedi Mind Trick.
So let me get this straight... My perpetual license will never feature updates now unless I just pay full price? If I subscribe, that will basically be the cost of upgrading the now defunct perpetual license every year, but I will not own the software and it will not be discounted if I sign up for the forthcoming update early? If I stop paying the $179 renewal, I lose access to the platform? Even Adobe doesn't do this, BTW. And then I can bounce between the two options with some kind of discount and weird ownership that is free after 5 years of getting it stuck to me by the man? Honestly, I don't even know if that is the correct understanding?
Why don't you just say to US (the clients)... Hey, we are going the way of Adobe. Take this subscription in the ass, without lube, and move on with life? That I understand. Not some weird software shell game, where I lose, regardless of where the stupid fucking ball is. I have spent so many years switching my catalogs over to running this platform only get screwed by the man. AGAIN. UNBELIEVABLE.
What worked so well for me was that C1 gave me and everyone else commenting on this post, the choice. Subscribe or Perpetual with the ability to upgrade when I wanted. That's freedom. This sounds like a forced birth.
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