Announcing New Unraid OS License Keys

[limetech]

As some have figured out, there are new license key types coming soon™ for Unraid OS.  We are still working on minor details but here is what we have planned.

 

We are going to introduce two new keys:

• Starter - supports up to 4 6 devices.  This will be offered at a lower price than today's Basic key.
• Unleashed - supports unlimited number of devices. This will be offered at about the same price as today's Plus key.

These two new keys provide for free Unraid OS updates for one year following activation.  After a year you have the option of extending the key for another year of updates for a fraction of the cost of the original key.  If you choose not to extend, you can still run any version of Unraid OS released prior to your renewal date, back to version 6.12.8.

 

Simultaneous with introducing these two key types, we will no longer offer Basic, Plus, and Pro keys; We will offer a new Lifetime license that will be more than a current Pro.

 

Nothing changes for existing Basic/Plus/Pro keys: you still get Unraid OS updates for life and you will still have the option to upgrade Basic to Plus/Pro or Plus to Pro.

 

For more on these changes, please see our blog post  and for a wide-ranging discussion about the origin of Unraid, present state of the company and future plans, please see our Uncast Show episode:

 

Please use this topic for any comments or questions.

 

[SpencerJ]

A blog with more details surrounding these upcoming changes can be found here:

 

https://unraid.net/blog/pricing-change

[samsausages]

Thanks for the update.  Pretty much what I expected from LT, support for existing community.  You all haven't let me down yet.

[sasquatc4]

One question, on the yearly supported keys. Will these still include security fixes/patches for the OS if your year has expired? I can understand not getting feature updates/upgrades beyond that but being an entire OS security fixes would be important

[B1scu1T]

I appreciate the communication coming out now, but I think I speak for most of us when I say, I wish this had come before the software release.

 

My only question is surrounding the guarantee Limetech are making towards future of "lifetime" (including existing basic/plus/pro) customers. Is there a genuine commitment towards existing customers retaining a perpetual license for all future Unraid versions, or is there a chance that Limetech have an expectation of a small upgrade fee in the case of major upgrades?

I understand that you cannot talk from an absolute 100% basis, as who knows what the future will bring, but I would just like to make sure the foreseeable future has no plans for this, and if there is, that we are at least informed of it.

[Hoopster]

14 minutes ago, limetech said:

Nothing changes for existing Basic/Plus/Pro keys: you still get Unraid OS updates for life and you will still have the option to upgrade Basic to Plus/Pro or Plus to Pro.

Thank you.  I own two Plus keys and one Pro key. 

 

The new Starter and Unleashed keys make some sense although I don't currently anticipate a need for either one.  The update subscription and option to freeze at a prior version certainly lets the user have full control over which path to take.  I think almost everyone can appreciate that.

[jsebright]

Doesn't sound unfair to me.

 

But...

Along with a Pro licence, I've currently got a trial for a small install that I need to licence. I can either buy a basic key or extend / wait and buy a starter licence.

 

Will there be a period of time during which I can make that choice - either by both being available, or knowing the new pricing in advance?

[sazrocks]

23 minutes ago, limetech said:

Nothing changes for existing Basic/Plus/Pro keys: you still get Unraid OS updates for life

Does this include unRAID 7.0 and other such future major versions?

[dopeytree]

So unleashed sits below pro. It's like pro but for a year & then turns into a subscription fee?

Anyway thanks for explaining and hope this helps bring in extra cash flow. I can see a lower starter level bringing more people into the community.

Edited February 19 by dopeytree

[PoMpIs]

5 minutes ago, sazrocks said:

Does this include unRAID 7.0 and other such future major versions?

 

I suppose that those of us who have a PRO license will be for life, regardless of the versions... when 7 comes out we will continue updating as before...

 

Because we are not going to stay on v6.xx.x forever 🤷‍♂️

[T0a]

Quote

Simultaneous with introducing these two key types, we will no longer offer Basic and Plus keys;

Can you give an ETA on dropping those two tiers? Or at least will you inform about the date once you know the timeframe? Under this new circumstances, I plan on buying another Plus license. 

Edited February 19 by T0a

[primeval_god]

2 minutes ago, dopeytree said:

So unleashed sits below pro. It's like pro but for a year & then turns into a subscription fee?

Its more like pro with 1 year of updates and an optional subscription for future updates. After the year you can continue to use the OS at the last version that was available while your update subscription was live (a key distinction in an era where a lot of software requires a subscription for continued use). 

[mo0oh]

Will the upgrade from Plus to Pro be the same price as it was before those changes?

I am wondering, because the new Lifetime license, which you said would essentially be the old Pro license, will by then be sold "at a higher price point".

[limetech]

30 minutes ago, sasquatc4 said:

One question, on the yearly supported keys. Will these still include security fixes/patches for the OS if your year has expired? I can understand not getting feature updates/upgrades beyond that but being an entire OS security fixes would be important

That's another one of those "minor details".  Honestly it's going to depend on how fast we can expand our team size to be able to maintain multiple supported versions.

[limetech]

23 minutes ago, sazrocks said:

Does this include unRAID 7.0 and other such future major versions?

Yes.

[sunwind]

Can we expect more frequent updates particularly to the web-ui when more money starts flowing in? Like are you planning to hire someone to work on the UX?

[VanGoghComplex]

Thanks for making this all clear!

 

One question: will non-subscribed licenses continue to receive security updates?

[bsession1014]

i always though it would be really cool to get like a cool sticker that changes every month and a letter saying thanks would be a cool subscription for like $5 a month from software like this. you get to support the efforts and get a badge to slap on the side of your server rack. and if things are tight a skip this month button. the unraid community is pretty decanted i think the response would go well.   

[trurl]

53 minutes ago, limetech said:

you can still run any version of Unraid OS released prior to your renewal date, back to version 6.12.8.

 

8 minutes ago, limetech said:

maintain multiple supported versions

One of the main reasons I suggest users to upgrade is so the community can support them. We can't keep running old versions just so we can help people that won't upgrade. 

[Vynlovanth]

Already have my pro license so I’m largely unaffected until I need another license, but just wanted to say I’m glad the top license is still an unlimited device lifetime update license.  Too many services depend on subscriptions (or other regular monthly/yearly fees of sorts to maintain features), and I understand it’s because ongoing updates require continuous streams of revenue but that’s a hard thing to swallow for home use.  Personally I’m more than happy to pay more for the lifetime license, pro was already a good deal.

 

I do worry about long term consequences as people buy their 1 year license, never update, then 3 years down the road want to update because of a new feature they heard about and they’re skipping multiple versions to do so.  The accessibility of Unraid already lends itself to more casual users who don’t understand the importance of staying relatively up to date with Unraid OS (and don’t bother reading release notes) and I don’t think this will help.  Other posters mentioned concerns about maintaining security of an Unraid install that is outside the 1 year support as well.

Edited February 19 by Vynlovanth
Grammar

[MatlockQC]

Hi, if we currently have a Basic, in the future if we want to upgrade to Pro/Lifetime, will it be the same price as now for the upgrade or the upgrade price will be higher to reflect the new pricing ?

[limetech]

29 minutes ago, dopeytree said:

So unleashed sits below pro. It's like pro but for a year & then turns into a subscription fee?

Anyway thanks for explaining and hope this helps bring in extra cash flow. I can see a lower starter level bringing more people into the community.

 

A small point: it's not a subscription fee in this sense: with a subscription if you don't renew then the service ends.  By contrast if you do not extend your Starter or Unleashed key your server still runs as before and you still have complete access to your data, etc.

[cbr600ds2]

This sounds stupid - but I've got the pro license.  Does that mean we can have more than 28 data drives now or is that still... a cap.   Just wondering.  

[ultimation]

19 minutes ago, limetech said:

That's another one of those "minor details".  Honestly it's going to depend on how fast we can expand our team size to be able to maintain multiple supported versions.

Security patches are not a minor details. A lot of the unraid systems are exposed to the Internet one way or another. Items like docker security updates must be an essential for everyone running unraid.

 

The support burden of maintaining multiple version releases is high though. So I hope this pays for that.

Edited February 19 by ultimation
typo

[limetech]

Just now, cbr600ds2 said:

This sounds stupid - but I've got the pro license.  Does that mean we can have more than 28 data drives now or is that still... a cap.   Just wondering.  

The current 28-device limitation applies to the unRAID array. You can have any number of btrfs/zfs pools with other devices.  An upcoming version will let you have multiple unRAID arrays though we don't plan on increasing the width of a single unRAID array.  With your Pro key you'll get this update for free 🙂