Rent or buy? If you’re thinking about buying new membership software, this is one of the big questions you’ll have to answer—and, like any of the factors that go into the decision process, the choice between a perpetual license vs. SaaS will impact your bottom line.
There are two main options when it comes to how you’ll pay for your new membership management software: perpetual modeling and SaaS (software as a service) pricing. Both pricing structures are based on a per license basis, where you’ll pay X amount of dollars per user. A perpetual model is where you buy the software outright and then own it in perpetuity. With SaaS pricing, you’ll pay X amount of dollars per user, per month and can discontinue the relationship at any time.
SaaS Pricing with a Twist
Aptify’s SaaS offering works slightly different than other vendors because even though you don’t own the software, you have the right to make any changes within the platform—just as you would if you bought it outright. You are free to configure the system to fit your unique needs—and the Aptify Cloud team will support your efforts behind the scene, making sure the changes you make don’t impair the upgrade path or overall performance of the system.
Think of it as buying versus leasing a car. When you buy a car, it’s yours. You pay more upfront for it, but then have total ownership over what you do with it. When you lease, you pay less initially, but then make payments each month. The difference with the Aptify model, however, is that, in this car-leasing scenario, you’d be able to tinker with your leased car and add whatever features you want. Then the Aptify service team will check the car out to make sure everything works to peak performance.
With the SaaS model, the Aptify Cloud team (or the service team from our car analogy) hosts the software for you. With the perpetual model, you’ll have the choice as to whether or not you want to host the software yourself. What you decide depends on how large your internal IT team is, the amount of time to which you want your IT department devoted to hosting, and, of course, what your budget is for such services.
The Difference Is in the Dollars
As with the car analogy, the choice between a perpetual license vs. SaaS largely depends on whether you would like to pay more upfront and save in subsequent years, or pay a premium to spread payments out over the lifecycle of the system. Your accounting department or board may also have a preference based on cash flow constraints and how your organization depreciates capital expenditures.
There’s so much more that goes in to membership software pricing, and we’ll cover it all in a live webinar on Wednesday, January 25: How Much Does Membership Software Cost? Register now and we’ll see you soon!
