12 Cameras
I saw this being discussed before, but I can't find it and I don't want the topic to die.
Has there been any movement on a 12-license option?
1 to 4 and 4 to 8 are not unreasonable, but I feel 8 to 16 is excessive and overly burdensome. There is no further discounting on the licenses until you get to 32 cameras anyway, so I can't wrap my head around the resistance.
I have 10 cameras in one location. But I just can't get myself to say yes to the v6 upgrade when 16 cameras is the only option.
I have one license with 8 cameras, this one is still fine at 8, though I could see 12 in its near future if 12 were an option.
I have a second license at 4 cameras. This one will stay at 4 for the time being.
But my third license at 4 cameras, this one is the problem. I've added 6 cameras to this location and I need to get them active. But I just can't bring myself to feel okay about the 16 when I can't see any logical reason for the extreme rigidity of 1-2-4-8-16-32 other than overselling.
Please don't take this as displeasure with the software or the support. That's always been top notch. And the yearly support or whatever that goes along with v6 doesn't phase me in the slightest. I'm fine with that.
But beyond 8 I just feel like 4-camera batches is more than fair. No onesies and twosies that way. Maybe after 16, when you're in corporate territory they won't blink at unused licenses. But 8 to 16 is just such a big jump.
Comments
Thanks for your feedback. The licensing model has now been discussed many times on the forum - here, here and most recently here. So there's not too much else for us to add in response to your post here, except to say that we are in fact planning to introduce a 24-camera license soon, because the biggest jump is currently between 16 and 32 cameras, and it's not only commercial installations that are falling into this bracket. By comparison, the jump between 8 and 16 cameras is much smaller, though I understand that it is still significant. I'm not ruling out the possibility of introducing a 12-camera license, we are undecided on this at present. First we will see how the introduction of the 24-license goes, and use this information to make a decision on a 12-camera option.
Say you want to make a system with 10 cameras under the current licensing structure. With the cost of the Mac ($600 for a basic mini), cameras ($150 x10 = $1500 for some basic ones), external 2TB SSD drive for video storage ($150), and cabling/network ($200 if you install yourself, otherwise much more), and a 16-camera SecuritySpy license ($460), the cost of SecuritySpy is less than 16% of the total cost of the system.
Our aim is to work hard to produce the best software possible, and charge customers a reasonable amount for it - we hope that at the prices we charge, and the quality of the software and support that we provide, most users will feel like they receive great value.
Finally, I do see that you own multiple licenses. For purchasing or upgrading multiple licenses at the same time, we will be able to offer discounts, please email us and let me know your requirements, and we will offer you a good deal.
Ben, I also think a 12 camera license might be a sweet spot for many... I'm about to fill up 8 camera license and I can see that down the road I might want to add a couple of more... and going to 16 would just be too high a cost to justify the additional two cameras.
Don't forget to factor in the cost of the property in which the system runs. One also needs a property in which to install the system. Extending the total "system" logic, that would easily make the Security Spy license less than 0.02% the total system cost here. Unfortunately, something feels awry with looking at it strictly as a portion of overall system cost. The license cost is the license cost.
For me, Security Spy is a superb product and wanting to continue using it justified getting a much more expensive Mac system.
12 would be a sweet stepping stone. That encourages continual growth in number of cameras because the incremental CAMERA cost to move up from 8 - pretty easy. With a 8 camera leap between 8 and 16, the impediment against creeping camera count upward is huge. I'm over twenty cameras now, but got there in little steps of 1, 2, 3 cameras at a time. Was definitely held back from increasing camera number, but instead focused on upgrading cameras when we reached each licensing limit. It wasn't the overall system cost that held sway, but the incremental cost at each step.
I agree that the step from 8 to 16 cameras is considerable, in comparison to an additional € 100 camera. An 12 camera license would really be appreciated and helpful for medium size installations.
@Ben any update if a 12 camera license will be offered?
Yeah, that 8-16 jump is unrealistic if you just need a couple more. We scaled back our original plan of 10 cameras to 8.