On April 30th at midnight CET MagLoft will officially be changing their price and plan details. Please read this article if you are interested in using MagLoft as your digital publishing solution. There is still time to upgrade your account before the new pricing kicks in. If you are an existing MagLoft customer these new pricing plans will not affect your current subscription. You will be able to keep those as long as they remain active. Only new magazines you create after April 30th will be subject to the new pricing plans.
To see the new plans that will be offered after April 30th, 2017 please click here. For a more detailed explanation please read on.
Why a Price Plan Change Now?
Every year we review our plans along with resources that we invest in support and maintenance. Our goal of being able to offer the best option for indie publishers remains the same. We do however need to make sure that our price plans are fair and a win-win for both our clients and MagLoft’s future growth. There are three main reasons why we have decided to change our plans and increase our prices this year:
- Increase in App Setups and Updates
- More Custom Development Requests
- Ensure Healthy Company Growth
Increase in App Setups and Updates
We are always excited to help our customers get their apps created and submitted to app stores. This is one of the reasons why we exist. As we grow we get more customers who all have different needs when it comes to the frequency in-app updates. In the last 6 months, our team spent up to 50% of their time just on app setups and updates. This is not a healthy number. We need to stay on top of new trends and developments in our industry. That is where most of our time should go.
For this reason, we will be introducing a max number of app updates available for our plans. We will also invest more resources in education and instant feedback when our customers are preparing their app setup.
A good example is the app icon. It can’t be changed unless we build a new app version and submit to stores. From our customer’s perspective it may seem like a simple quick update. However, behind the scenes, we need to rebuild apps, make sure we still have access to developer accounts, communicate with our clients, risk a silly rejection mistake from Apple and Google (they do happen), and keep track of review progress and alert our publishers.
We believe that with better guidance from our side, publishers will know what changes require an app update. This better guidance will come in the form of more explanations in the MagLoft portal. You will be able to see which fields require an update if changed. With this information, we hope it will save time for both parties.
More Custom Development Requests
Our team receives a lot of great ideas from our publishers which is amazing! Ultimately we would implement all of them right away, however that is not optimal or even possible. We never would have thought that so many publishers have specific needs and requests that tailor perfectly for them, but not for the majority of our publishers. When we look at implementing new features we will always want to make them freely available for all MagLoft publishers. Lately, however, the requests have been very specific which has made it harder for us to justify the investment in time and resources.
As a result of this, we will be moving all custom developments to our higher plans. Until today we would always try to get them built into the existing $99 monthly plan for free. However, in retrospect, we see that it was not the best way to go. We would have too many features at the 80% completion stage and not enough time to properly support them. Interestingly enough, we have learned that these clients would have happily paid more for solutions that are 100% completed and supported.
Ensure Healthy Company Growth
Did you know that MagLoft is a 100% self-funded and bootstrapped startup? This means we have not taken any external investments yet and rely completely on our revenue to ensure growth. We are in a fairly unique position as it’s quite typical for startups to seek investments in order to operate and get into the business.
Because we have amazing customers that love our product and service we have been able to retain 100% control of our company. This is something that we think is important when it comes to customer-driven development and growth. We want to be able to serve you as best as possible and not necessarily be hindered by investors who have different views on the direction of the company.
MagLoft has grown organically thanks to our amazing customers who tell other publishers about our service and products. Taking the best care of our existing customers is super important for us. By increasing our pricing and changing our plans we will be in a stronger position going forward. Which will ensure we maintain the best customer service and stay at the forefront of digital publishing advancements.
So what happens with the additional revenue that is coming in by charging higher plan subscriptions? We’re still on our mission to create the best digital publishing platform out there, and this is not the time for us to lean back and collect the profits. Since the beginning – and this is not going to change anytime soon – all revenue has been re-invested into the business. Paying our team’s salaries, expanding our platform with valuable features and additions, improving our customer support, and the stability of our product. Ultimately, the higher price is dedicated to improving the ways we deliver value to you, our customers.
When Will Prices and Plans Change?
On April 30th, 2017 at midnight CET the new prices will be in effect and the new plans will be locked in their offered features.
How Will The Change Impact Existing Customers?
The short answer is: it won’t. If you are an existing customer, whichever plan you are currently on with the features and benefits it provides will not change. The price of the plan will not change either. We would never increase our prices for existing customers.
We want to thank you for investing in MagLoft early on and honor any price point you have come in on. If you are on a monthly plan you can still upgrade to the yearly plan which grants you 2 free months. Just let us know and we can help you with that.
When we first launched, we offered MagLoft completely for free. Granted it was nowhere near as powerful as it is today and only for coders. We have – since January 2014 – increased our base subscription from $9 monthly to $29, then $49, and later to our $99 monthly price. During this time we have honored all customers’ plans and we still have happy customers on the $9 monthly plan. Thank you so much for believing in MagLoft when we were young and wild and free 🙂
If however, you decide to launch new publications after the new plans are in effect, then you will be subject to the new prices and changes.
Questions?
Please send us any questions you may have regarding the upcoming changes. The best way to contact us is through the online live chat. Please reach out to us there and we will get right back to you!
