Question Massive price increase for reseller licenses?

[B_P]

Today, my Plesk license reseller informed me that they need to increase the Plesk license fees due to a massive increase in fees they need to pay for the Plesk licenses.
Looking at the prices, this feels ridiculously expensive and rather like massive profiteering on the side of plesk.com!

My current price for a WebPro VPS license: 4.99 € / month
New price for a WebPro license (VPS version has been discontinued): 13.50 € / month.
Thats a "small" increase of 270%.

Did anyone else experience something similar? Dear Plesk team, I would be happy to read some reasons why this has to be changed. A small increase in fees could be acceptable (maybe 5%) but 270% sounds like massive profiteering.

Looks like I should rather dedicate my time to one of the open source alternatives if these prices are going to stay...

 

[IgorG]

You can read more about the pricing increase and whether it affects you here: https://www.plesk.com/pricing-2017-faq/

 

[B_P]

You can read more about the pricing increase and whether it affects you here: https://www.plesk.com/pricing-2017-faq/

But still, 270% can only be called profiteering!

 

[IgorG]

But still, 270% can only be called profiteering!

Please pay your attention to point 8 there. You will receive all the explanations.

 

[reccon]

"Adjusting" the price is OK, but such a massive increase in price isn't.
I've been a plesk fan for a long time, but if I have to pay more for the panel than I have to pay for the virtual server, I'll switch to another admin panel.

 

[InsertCoin]

Oakley Capital have to start making the investment work for them otherwise their shareholders won't be too happy with them.

These kinds of activity only push people to move their infrastructure to OpenSource alternatives that either carry a minimal fee or no fee at all.

 

[B_P]

Please pay your attention to point 8 there. You will receive all the explanations.

Well, sending an e-mail was not helpful. They only replied with some general marketing-blah (as you get it most of the times from sales representatives).
Looks like I really should look into (free) alternatives such as ISPConfig... And I hope that there will be a lot of customers doing the same. Dictating such massive price changes is not the way how a company should treat their customers!

 

[UFHH01]

Hi B_P,

My current price for a WebPro VPS license: 4.99 € / month
New price for a WebPro license (VPS version has been discontinued): 13.50 € / month.
Thats a "small" increase of 270%.

Plesk is certainly not responsible for prices, that are calculated by hosting/server provider, resellers and/or Plesk partners and for sure not for discontinued VPS - contracts. I'm a bit suprised, that you didn't calculate the changes a bit more transparent and more precise.
Pls. note as well, that each contract can be cancelled immediately, in case of price changes.


To point out ALL Plesk prices changes and without any "sales/marketing language", I created an excel sheet and I will show as well possible reductions and the percentage of the price changes:

The actual Plesk license prices ( 01.10.2017: => Plesk Pricing Plans & Options. Plesk license types. ) are:

For each VPS:

WEB ADMIN EDITION    8,00 €  / month per VPS  / monthly payment

WEB PRO EDITION     12,00 €  / month per VPS  / monthly payment

WEB HOST EDITION    20,00 €  / month per VPS  / monthly payment

For each dedicated servers:

WEB ADMIN EDITION    8,00 €  / month per dedicated server / monthly payment

WEB PRO EDITION     12,00 €  / month per dedicated server  / monthly payment

WEB HOST EDITION    36,00 €  / month per dedicated server  / monthly payment

... which leads to the following calculations:

(pls. click on the image to enlarge)
​

Based on ( possible ) Plesk - Partners contracts ( 01.10.2017 ), you have the choice to reduce your costs with 15% / 30% / 45% to the basic licenses prices and you even get reductions, if you pay yearly, instead of paying monthly ( not only if you are a Plesk partner! ).

As you can see, the license prices didn't increase to 270% and I suggest to compare hosting provider / reseller and Plesk partner prices with the ones from the official Plesk store.


( Pls. note, that if my calculations from my excel sheet are somehow incorrect, I will certainly correct this as soon as a possible with a new image )

 

[B_P]

Well, here's the statement of one of the Plesk partners in Germany: Anpassung der Plesk Lizenzpreise zum 01.11.2017. As you can see, prices for VServers are now more than the double of the old price. And yes, for my provider (not the one linked to above), the 270 percents relates to 270% of the original price, i.e., an increase of 170%. However, we see, that there was at least a small adjustment on Plesk's side already.

But now comes the stupid question: Why should I buy a license from a reseller where it is only a few cents cheaper (if at all), if this license does not even allow me to get directly in touch with the Plesk support? And why should a provider continue offering these licenses to new customers, if almost can't earn anything from reselling?

 

[UFHH01]

Hi B_P,

to show our commitment and support to our customers who have been supporting Plesk since the beginning, renewals will happen at the old price for all customers who have purchased a Plesk license from the Plesk online store. The new pricing will make everyone more competitive in the market with no unfair advantages. Single license customers have the very same ( possible ) benefits as partners/resellers, when they purchase licenses over the Plesk online store.

In case that you need support for your Plesk product, nothing changed. If a partner/reseller isn't able to solve/answer your issue/error/problem/question ( they are as well Plesk certified engineers ) , they just open a ticket at the official Plesk Support on your behalf and they will get the very same awesome, qualified support ( directly from Plesk ), as a single license customer ( who purchased the license directly at the Plesk online store ).

 

[LTUser]

WoW!

This is a hefty price increase for the fact that we are more and more a betatester. I use Plesk since version 7.5 and I have never complained that Plesk is always more faulty. I will therefore not participate in such a price increase!

I do not need any support, but if Plesk delivers faulty versions then already - but for this so much more to pay is derision.

 

[emil_c]

The price increase is ridiculous. More than 6 months ago Plesk promised that they will work closely with the CloudFlare team to implement the Full DNS support but I got nothing. Now, a Plesk representative tells me that it is not your responsibility. Are you kidding me? Why you made the promise then? And now you want to increase the prices? And almost 67% in 30 days?
How is this fair to all competing companies? It is easier for big companies to adapt to these changes. Big companies now find it much easier to compete with smaller companies because their profit margin doesn't suffer as much.
cPanel looks like a good alternative now. 20 USD / month - 30% for partners.
What is trying Plesk to do? Shoot themselves in both feet?

 

[UFHH01]

Hi emil_c,

More than 6 months ago Plesk promised that they will work closely with the CloudFlare team to implement the Full DNS support

Would you mind clarifying, WHO promised you the "Full DNS integration at Plesk", as I could only find your Plesk feature request ( with currently 23 votes - no admin comment has been made ):

=> Support full DNS for CloudFlare ServerShield​

As a Plesk partner you are as well legitimated to receive reductions up to 45 % of the basic licence prizes. Would you desire more information here? => Become a Plesk Partner as a start and we created as well an additional information website with a contact form:

=> Pricing Adjustment 2017 - Plesk

... and you might have noticed my above created Excel - sheet at => #8​

 

[emil_c]

The last reply regarding ServerShield extension was in September:
Thank you for the patience.
Currently we are working on the new CloudFlare Extension which will contain the requested feature. Due to the fact that CloudFlare introduces new API it will take significant time to develop and implement this extension. In this case we cannot provide you with any ETA but I would like to assure you that we are activly working on this project in collaboration with CloudFlare.

Thank you for understanding.


Best regards,

Lev Iurev
Technical Support
Plesk

But this was only the last reply. 6 months before that I was promised the same thing. And I was given to time frame.

I am already a Plesk partner. Yes, we can get better discounts but only if we sell more. But to reach the next tier we need time. Which Plesk doesn't give. With the new prices increase big companies have an edge over the small companies. According to the old prices there were only 3 tiers. Now we have 4. According to these price differences big companies (Tier 4) have to add only a 1.75 USD difference. Starting companies (Tier 1) 8.5 USD. This doesn't look like fair competition to me.

I wouldn't mind the price increase if it wasn't that big for smaller companies. And the most important thing is I wouldn't mind the price increase if the module development have moved in the correct direction. The ServerShield add-on is sold by Plesk, as a result I think it is your responsibility to make it work. Your competitors already provide the Full DNS support. It's is only in Plesk's interest to provide it as fast as possible.
Thank you.

 

[emil_c]

So, what next? My Plesk agent isn't replying for the last couple of days and this thread is stuck. Couldn't you guys make the increase smaller or at least over longer periods of time? This collaboration becomes a little painful. Mostly because of the lack of proper communication and no consideration for the customers.

 

[UFHH01]

Hi emil_c,

the Plesk Community Forum is basically not some sort of alternative for the Plesk Sales department. We will certainly hand over suggestions and feedback, but pls. don't expect us to solve individual requests over forum posts for Plesk users/customers or/and Plesk partners, when it comes to license prizes and/or to the Plesk Partner program.

The Plesk Community Forum is a plattform for Plesk users, where ( mostly ) technical issues/errors/problems/questions are discussed and possible solutions to the depending issues/errors/problems/questions are provided by the Plesk Community users, after a root cause could be investigated. We call this a "self-care" support plattform, as all of our Plesk Community users are involved and it is an addition to the official Plesk Support.

Your feedback and your suggestions for Plesk, its components and extensions are very valuable for us, but you will understand that this Plesk Community forum doesn't replace your individual communication with the Plesk Sales department.

 

[emil_c]

Well, my Plesk Sales or Partner Program representative isn't replying to my messages...

 

[IgorG]

Well, my Plesk Sales or Partner Program representative isn't replying to my messages...

Have you tried to use communication form on this page Pricing Adjustment 2017 - Plesk ?

 

[indy0077]

Well, my Plesk Sales or Partner Program representative isn't replying to my messages...

Seems to be nice hot here... BTW cPanel license with unlimited accounts on it (as before) costs $14.95 from a reliable reseller. We used cpanel for years, now we tried Plesk, but with such things what happened and their "mind" we will probably switch back to cPanel.

 

[B_P]

Hi B_P,

to show our commitment and support to our customers who have been supporting Plesk since the beginning, renewals will happen at the old price for all customers who have purchased a Plesk license from the Plesk online store. The new pricing will make everyone more competitive in the market with no unfair advantages. Single license customers have the very same ( possible ) benefits as partners/resellers, when they purchase licenses over the Plesk online store.

So what about existing customers that placed orders via resellers? Will these price remain at their old levels as well?

In case that you need support for your Plesk product, nothing changed. If a partner/reseller isn't able to solve/answer your issue/error/problem/question ( they are as well Plesk certified engineers ) , they just open a ticket at the official Plesk Support on your behalf and they will get the very same awesome, qualified support ( directly from Plesk ), as a single license customer ( who purchased the license directly at the Plesk online store ).

Well, for all but one issue I had so far, the questions were so specific, that the resellers (different ones) were not able to respond themselves. Thus, for me personally there is no more reason to use a reseller if the prices are identical while the support is more complicated (and takes longer)...