Price

The arithmetic

The monthly ones are $99. That's $1,188 a year, every year.

Three years in, that's $3,564 against $697.

The desktop anchor

The established desktop program in this trade sells its roll-off package for $3,600 to $4,150.

What's included

A perpetual licence. You may use it forever. There is no expiry date, no renewal check, and nothing that stops working if you never pay again.

The first year of updates and support is included in the price.

The annual plan

After that first year, everything keeps working exactly as it did. If you want another year of updates and priority help, it's $149. If you don't, nothing changes about the software you own.

Trial and guarantee

Try it free for 30 days. Buy it, and you've got another 30 to change your mind.

Why not free

There are free ones. Free is free right up until the company gets bought, changes its mind, or closes — and then your customer list, your job history and your invoices are on their server, not yours. What $697 buys you is that this can't happen to you.