YNAB You Need A Budget

[blackdiamond]

Although others may not agree, I think a straight 50% off for the upgrade would have been fair a balance. YNAB is not an inexpensive program to begin with; in fact it is one of the higher priced budgeting programs, so a 50% off upgrade would reduce the cost of YNAB to about what others charge for the full price of their product. I realize at this point there is no intent to change anything, as Jesse can clearly see he has a dedicated fanbase that mentions they are willing to pay more than $40 to upgrade, so there is little need to reduce the cost.

I actually think that it would be perfectly fair for everyone to pay the full price, likely $60 for YNAB 4. I'm impressed that YNAB offers the 6 month free upgrade and even more impressed that there is a discount for all other current users. YNAB is a business and there is nothing about YNAB 4 that takes away from the functionality of YNAB 3. If YNAB goes out of business today and YNAB 4 never came out officially, everyone would be perfectly fine using the software that they currently have. There's always going to be a better way to do something, but that doesn't mean that the current way isn't great.

I have beta tested, and even though I really like some of the new features the real difference is the cloud functionality. It minimizes the touch time (a LEAN term for those that know) and this is a huge benefit. For someone that has a fairly stable budget you could actually go for months without ever actually using the desktop simply by budgeting a few months in the future, entering purchases ahead, and allowing the recurring transactions to populate. You could easily eliminate all desktop use other than the monthly budget meeting so everything else could be done whenever you have time. Sitting at red lights and riding the elevator. This is easily worth the cost of admission. If I didn't carry a smart phone and money was tight, I'd likely stick with YNAB 3 as I think it does a great job and it always will.

[rennuz]

First post and I honestly gave up on the YNAB software a while ago. I am sure its my own fault as I tried to get involved with it and put all my info and myself and my wife used it for about a month trying our hardest to make sure we stuck to it.

In the end we simply gave up because of the way it saved, it just didnt and was overwriting other work we had done and it got really annoying as it wasnt on the cloud as it really should be and thought it was promising to be. I read on here about upgrades etc going to be done which I thought would solve all problems and becasue I bought it in early december late Novemeber then I have found out I just missed any upgrade for free.

I understand there are cut offs and costs etc to do upgrades etc but perhaps a warning to people who are going to buy that they are not liable for an upgrade would be better. I did also read about the potential upgrades and rumours on here so just assumed that I would get an upgrade so that it would work for me.

Anyway like I say costs are always going to be there but it would be nice of you to think of the people who supported you previously and offer something to them. I have it on an iphone, android and mac but dont see the point in upgrading as I can imagine there will be more costs in the future. Dissappointed all round but I cant see its a system I will be picking up again.

I will also add that I am a financial advisor and am looking for software I can recommend to clients but cant trust that my clients wouldnt be stung later on with high costs for updates etc. Your stance has been pretty firm.

[davepettitt]

Rennuz
Fair point but can i suggest you flick Jesse a private message through the forum. He's a great guy and this will give him the chance to chat to you off board.
Dave

[rodeoclown]

I understand there are cut offs and costs etc to do upgrades etc but perhaps a warning to people who are going to buy that they are not liable for an upgrade would be better.

The problem with doing that is that we don't know when the next release is going to be. So there is no real way of saying to someone that they will or won't get an upgrade.
The time since the last upDATE has been far, far longer than ever before, and only because the architectural changes in 4 are so massive that it was just too hard for us to keep bug fixes and updates synchronised between the two versions. I don't anticipate this happening moving forward (it's a lesson we've learned here too).

[mozzie61]

Anyway like I say costs are always going to be there but it would be nice of you to think of the people who supported you previously and offer something to them. I have it on an iphone, android and mac but dont see the point in upgrading as I can imagine there will be more costs in the future.

Existing customers are offered something i.e. a $40 upgrade to the latest version, which is a 1/3 discount off the normal retail price.

I have YNAB on my PC, a laptop, iPhone and my wife's Android too. Do I expect to have all of these kept up to date with the latest version for nothing? Of course not (I can't think of any paid software that does). Do I expect to always be in my pocket for YNAB updates? Hardly, with their free updates policy this is the first time in over 2 years I'm being asked to pay anything to YNAB, and it's for a major upgrade. This is small apples compared to the thousands of dollars YNAB has helped me hang on to, and the thousands I'm saving in reduced interest on an ever smaller debt pile.

I will also add that I am a financial advisor and am looking for software I can recommend to clients but cant trust that my clients wouldnt be stung later on with high costs for updates etc. Your stance has been pretty firm.

The free updates for the life of a YNAB version, and free upgrade within 6 months policy are well known, and IMO pretty generous, so I'd suggest you can recommend YNAB without fear your clients will be "stung" as you put it. Some how I suspect you won't be recommending YNAB anyway due to your own stated poor experience. I'm sorry that you were unable to reap the full rewards of the YNAB system, but as many others from varying circumstances and education levels have been able to achieve remarkable results with YNAB (in all its versions), I don't believe the software is at fault.

P.S. The YNAB EULA also allows YNAB to be used for no additional cost on multiple computers of immediate family members. Again a generous offer when compared to other software.

[rsd22]

Seriously, the most viewed topic under YNAB 4 is one about free upgrades???? That says what.....

[blackdiamond]

Seriously, the most viewed topic under YNAB 4 is one about free upgrades???? That says what.....

That people think they deserve things for free even though the policy for upgrades has been clearly stated all along.

[EricMN]

Quicken 2012 is $59.99 - $99.99 depending on the version you want. With them, you won't get any upgrade pricing from year to year, and in my opinion you'll get nowhere near the amount of feature improvements as we're seeing from YNAB 3 to 4.

Also, Intuit's forced obsolescence guarantees you'll eventually be buying the new version, whether there's any useful benefit or not.

With YNAB not relying on online transaction imports to be useful, you could use YNAB 3 as long as you own a computer that will run it. If the new features aren't worth $40 of value, then wait for YNAB 5 and see how that looks. In any case, you're not being intentionally screwed by the developer, so that's nice!

In addition, between the activity of the support team and developers (and CEO!) on the forums with useful and candid discussion, the training videos, and the (free!) live online training sessions... well, let's just say this is not typical for most software packages, and is a particularly stark comparison to Quicken.

I'm just wondering which software a financial adviser would recommend over YNAB as a better value, especially in regards to pricing and upgrade fees?

[Will]

I'm just wondering which software a financial adviser would recommend over YNAB as a better value, especially in regards to pricing and upgrade fees?

I'm just wondering about financial advisors who assume things based on rumors on forums.

[litterbug]

Now, now...

[macduncan]

In the words of George Takei..."oh my". $40 barely buys two tickets to a movie, soda and popcorn! YNAB rules!

Windows 7 upgrade = $100.00
Mac OS X Lion upgrade = $50.00 (1 license)
Office Home and student = $90.00 - $120.00
Quicken Deluxe - $50.00

GPS maps update for my Odyssey (this one hurts) $150.00

Overdraft charges at a bank = $24.00 - $35.00 (haven't had since buying YNAB Pro 3 years ago)!

So why do some folks expect upgrades to be free and be that way for eternity?

Bill

[simonsez]

The time since the last upDATE has been far, far longer than ever before, and only because the architectural changes in 4 are so massive that it was just too hard for us to keep bug fixes and updates synchronised between the two versions. I don't anticipate this happening moving forward (it's a lesson we've learned here too).

And it seems to me that we, your customers, are footing the bill for the lesson learnt

I don't think people have an issue paying for an upgrade (some posts on this topic seem to insinuate that we are expecting the upgrade for free).
The issue is with how certain features (read cloud sync) were clubbed with the upgrade pricing instead of updating the current version (when other competing products already had this feature built in during the time of YNAB purchase). The idea was that this feature will eventually be released by the YNAB team as an update. So in my opinion (since I am entitled to one), this move by the YNAB management is sneaky at its best.

To all the YNAB developers, I understand the new version has been under development for 18 months and I know that this time costs money. But as developers of a product oriented company, I think you will agree that your customers will not value the architectural changes in the product but they will value the new features introduced (even though the new features introduced were made possible by the architectural changes). So in the eyes of the customer, the biggest feature of YNAB 4 is cloud sync though to you guys, the biggest feature could be the architectural stability and extensibility of YNAB 4. So you guys might feel the architectural stability might be worth 40 bucks but as a customer, I feel that cloud sync is not worth 40 bucks!

Anyway, I guess I have said everything I had to say. I wish the YNAB team the very best!

[rodeoclown]

We think that cloud sync, the all accounts view, filtering reports by payee/category/account and date, improved printing, the ability to print at all, improved exporting, improved QIF importing, easier transfers, easier drag and drop sidebar accounts, the income vs expenses (profit and loss report), plus the team photo on purchase make it worth the $40.

But we have definitely learnt some lessons here, and the next release will (hopefully) go much more smoothly.

[Budget_Ninja]

Oh the drama! This is easily one of my favourite threads going on this forum.

[Will]

My first MINI Cooper S was supercharged, even though turbocharged cars were available from other manufacturers. Two years later, MINI introduced a turbocharged Cooper S. How sneaky!

Oh sure, there were other changes made to the MINI. But in the eyes of the customer, the turbo was it. Did I think a turbo was worth the price of a new car? No, but my partner did. We didn't get a free new MINI, or even a 33% discount. But we did get a car that I really love!

Oops, was this off-topic?