With features like Airspace and Waypoint Mode on the horizon, we want to make another big announcement about Autopilot relative to pricing.
The TLDR version
No more in-app upgrades and base price increasing to $29.99.
The full explanation
As many of you know, Autopilot is currently priced at $19.99 with five additional Modes offered as in-app upgrades for $4.99 each, for a total of $44.94. We chose to price Autopilot in this way because we are a software start-up without the ability to offset the cost of developing new features by making margins on hardware sales, and we wanted to ensure that new feature development would be sustainable.
We realize there are several downsides to this pricing model, such as:
- It can create a barrier to entry on using some of the best features of Autopilot, and in the end we want the maximum amount of people to be able to enjoy the best of what Autopilot has to offer
- It can create a sense that we are trying to nickel-and-dime, or even mislead users - neither of which are true, but the perception may still be there
- The actual in-app purchase workflow can be annoying, especially if you bought the app intending to buy all the in-app upgrades from the start or you are attempting to activate a mode in the field when you don’t have an internet connection
Having said that, it is worth noting that in the same way we listen to the community and implement new features based on feedback, we are willing to listen to feedback on pricing and make changes when appropriate. Additionally, we now have two quarters of revenue history to inform our decision, which greatly increases our confidence in making a pricing change that is both beneficial to the community, and sustainable* for us.
Here is the new plan:
- Airspace and Waypoint were originally going to cost $9.99 each, bringing the all-in cost of Autopilot to $64.92. Instead we are going to offer both of these features for free.
- All existing in-app upgrades will go away and every feature in Autopilot will be included with a purchase of the base app.
- The base price of the app will increase to $29.99 (less than half of the $64.92 listed above)
We believe there are many benefits to this new plan, with the two most important being:
- It allows us to thank our existing users for believing in Autopilot and being early adopters (you don’t have to pay anything more to get the latest features)
- It negates all of the downsides listed above with the in-app upgrades
* On the sustainability of the new plan: we have noticed that new sales of Autopilot continue at a steady pace, in large part due to the community spreading the word (and we thank you for that), and also because DJI continues to sell new hardware. As long as both of these conditions continue, we feel comfortable that sales from new users will offset our ongoing R&D costs and we want existing users to receive the benefit of that.
