Let Me Start with the Conclusion of this Article: When you make a purchase decision about act today you cannot just compare apples to apples, you have to include oranges.

In the past, you always bought act at a set price; it was simple and easy, it was the cost of act software. Today it isn’t just about price but it is also about cost. It is about setup costs, technical support costs and the cost of software that surrounds act. Unfortunately, in my opinion, this makes the purchase decision a little bit more difficult because there is a lot of information to wrap your mind around. When you subscribe, you will never have to upgrade again.

On the surface it appears that act is getting more expensive. That is only if you look at the price. If you look at the cost and everything that act will now do for you, I personally think it is a bargain.

Let’s Start with the Apples

If you are thinking about updating act you have many options. If you contact act directly you will not be able to buy act Pro because they don’t sell it any longer. Today, they only sell Act Premium or Act Premium Cloud. This is where it starts to get a little confusing.

I’m an Act Certified Consultant and you can buy act Pro from me directly for $269.99. If you qualify for an upgrade price, it will reduce your cost by about approximately $50 per copy. Act Pro is best utilized if you have 10 or fewer users. When you buy act Pro you own it and you never have to buy another copy of act software again. Having stated that, when new versions of act come out you will not benefit from any new enhancements in the new act software. Frankly, many people upgrade act not because they want to but because they have to in order to make it compatible with other software. Time takes a toll on old software compatibility.

Act Premium is $499 with discounts for volume purchases. At that price, you own it forever just like act Pro. Act Premium is best for people that have more than 10 users. Act Premium is designed so that potentially you can host your act database on the web allowing you to work with act via a web browser. For most small businesses you would have to hire an act certified consultant to configure it to be used as a web tool. I mentioned that because there is a cost associated with that step. There are also services that will charge you approximately $40 per month to host your act database for you if you don’t want to do it yourself. In other words, you would have to buy act $499 and then pay approximately $480 per year to have it hosted for you.

Now Oranges

Act has introduced a new subscription service for act. For $35 per month you can have act in the cloud and on your desktop computer. Because it is in the cloud you can access it from everywhere. You can access it from a web browser such as Firefox. You can access it on an iPhone, iPad or Android device. Act is wherever you have access to the Internet. Act is always backed up by the hosting service; it is always in sync with the cloud.

If you just want it on your desktop it is $25.00 per month. You can cancel at any time and add people when you need to increase your act licenses. The subscription service includes free technical support and your software will always be up-to-date. That becomes very important as other software evolves that is compatible with act and vice versa.

Last but not least, if you believe that $35 a month is too expensive then I contend that you are not making act work hard enough for you. With all of the tools that you get with act, the software should easily pay for itself every single month.