FAQ – SSA/Forward to Subscription Conversion Program

Our customers want us to be innovative and to benefit from state-of-the-art technology. Moreover, in a competitive landscape, we need a sustainable business model. While perpetual license & SSA was a sustainable business model until the 2010’s, today it is clear that sustainable means a subscription model, which guarantees that we can continuously invest in our solutions. The difference is not in pricing but in using the best available technology. At the same time, we respect the preferences of our customers – so our shift to Subscription is very gradual.

Graphisoft’s “SSA/Forward to Subscription” conversion program is intended to be a multi-year program. The offering’s current conditions are valid until December 31, 2024, when the program will be reviewed and its conditions adjusted for beyond 2024.

Graphisoft’s “SSA/Forward to Subscription” conversion program is optional for customers. That is, Graphisoft will continue to support Archicad licenses with active SSA/Forward contracts.

Archicad perpetual licenses without active SSA/Forward entitle customers to use their Archicad software indefinitely. Since new purchases of SSA/Forward will no longer be available, perpetual licenses will not be updated with the latest software/hardware developments.

DDScad is out of the scope of the current conversion program. Graphisoft may offer a similar conversion program for DDScad in the future.

SSA/Forward customers can convert to Archicad Collaborate subscriptions at the end of their SSA/Forward term. For 3-year upfront paid subscriptions, Graphisoft guarantees price parity with SSA/Forward for the initial subscription term, and same discount percentage at the first renewal. A yearly subscription plan is also available for a 10% markup compared to the 3-year upfront paid option.

At this point, SSA/Forward license pools may only be converted as “all or nothing”.

At present, non-SSA/Forward licenses must be upgraded/brought into the SSA/Forward pool before they can take advantage of the benefits of the conversion program. Graphisoft may, at its discretion, offer direct conversion routes for non-SSA/Forward licenses at a later stage.

The conversion discount coupon will expire, and the converted subscriptions will be renewed at the standard subscription list price. Alternatively, customers may fall back onto the perpetual path with their licenses. In such cases, their perpetual licenses will be upgraded to the most up-to-date perpetual software – that is, to the version accessible at the time to SSA/Forward customers – albeit without the SSA/Forward coverage going forward.

Customers who decide to leave Graphisoft’s conversion program will revert to the perpetual license track without SSA/Forward, which means their license pool will be updated at the time of leaving, but not in the future. Graphisoft may, at its discretion, offer direct conversion routes for non-SSA/Forward licenses at a later stage.

When a customer enters the Conversion Program, they must surrender their perpetual Archicad licenses. In return, they will receive an equal number of Subscription licenses. However, to ensure backward compatibility for customer’s projects created with Archicad 25 or earlier versions, Graphisoft will also provide the customer with a set of perpetual Archicad 25 licenses, called Compatibility Licenses, to be used for working on those earlier projects. Please note that the customer is not allowed to use their Subscription and Compatibility Licenses simultaneously – they can use one or the other at any given time. Furthermore, the customer is not allowed to sell, lease, or transfer a Compatibility License to a third party.

As part of the benefits in our conversion program, we are providing compatibility back to Archicad 13, by leaving converted perpetual licenses as Archicad 25 perpetual licenses in your hands. This way you can open/edit projects that are up to 15 years old while still benefiting from Archicad Collaborate’s cloud licensing.

Customers’ existing (earlier purchased) licenses are independent of the “SSA/Forward to Subscription” conversion program, so Graphisoft’s standard subscription terms and conditions (including pricing) apply to those licenses.

Graphisoft’s subscription products run using modern “cloud licensing” technology. Thus, licenses can be assigned to individuals as “named licenses,” and can also be assigned to a group of users as a “network license” pool, where users can get use these floating licenses on a first-come-first-serve basis. Users can also go offline with named cloud licenses for up to 7 days. Floating license support will come in Q3 2024 and will be made available to all Archicad Collaborate subscription customers retrospectively.

For clarity: “private cloud” means that you will be able to host BIMcloud on your own servers, in a data center of your choosing, or even in your local office. And yes, Graphisoft is working on a solution to provide this option with the same cloud licensing technology. Part of the package will be “bring your own license” functionality, meaning that users will be able to collaborate on a different BIMcloud as guests, but using their own license from their own company. We will provide you with ETA about these options later.

Later in 2024, Graphisoft will offer the opportunity to convert SSA/Forward licenses mid-term as well. In such a case, the parties will reach a financial settlement, whose process and mechanics may vary depending on the market. Further information will be shared locally once this option is available in a certain geography. Mid-term changes in SSA/Forward contracts will require the mutual agreement of all parties – so such conversion will only happen upon the customer’s request and with the support of the involved partner.

Perpetual license in software means that you have a perpetual right to use the software for which you purchased it (i.e. the version that you purchased it for). This means any perpetual license of Archicad purchased before December 31, 2025, gives you the right to use the software “as is” for as long as you have compatible hardware and operating system to run them on. The counterpart to “perpetual” is not “cloud” licensing (that’s a technical solution – see next question), but rather “subscription” licensing, which gives you the right to use the software (the most up-to-date version of it) as long as you have an active subscription.

Cloud licensing is a specific technical solution to software licensing. It is called “cloud” because the license is hosted by the vendor (Graphisoft) in the cloud, and the customer can manage access through a web interface. By default, cloud licenses are “named” licenses, meaning they are each connected to a specific user. As mentioned above, Graphisoft is also working on offering a network/floating type licensing (ETA in Q3 2024). This table gives an overview of license types vs. licensing technologies:

Licensing is about access to software and not access to content created by the software, which means Archicads running with cloud licenses can open projects created with Archicads running physical key-based licenses and vice versa. The same is true for Archicads running with perpetual vs. subscription licenses. Thus, companies with a mixed license pool (perpetual & subscription) will be able to open, edit, and work on the same project.

It is natural that subscription products provide more frequent updates for license holders, because they allow delivery of innovation and bugfixes in a more agile way. This, however, doesn’t mean “forced” updates – the control (& responsibility) of updating remains with the customers. This also supports customers who prefer to keep their differently licensed Archicads on the same build to ensure compatibility.

The removal of SSA/Forward as a purchase option after December 31, 2025, will have no effect on how active SSA/Forward contracts will be serviced going forward. In any given market, if a Graphisoft Partner is the designated service partner for SSA/Forward, they will continue to deliver these services as they do today.