Adobe Suite user here so I wouldn’t need the functionality of the Glowforge design space, but my biggest question here would be pertaining to the Glowforge Pro setup and the Passthrough. I know the Passthrough software is still in Beta, which I am loving BTW. Do you plan on having this be a part of the subscription service in the future or will you include it with the standard setup for pro users once it passes all the testing?
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The Passthrough software does come with the Pro purchase. (So no need to go Premium.)
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I suspect the “free for premium” files will make it worthwhile for a lot of folks.
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Awesome! Thank you! My concerns are no longer needed lol! 
<pedantic mode>Glowforge was never on Kickstarter.</pedantic mode>
There is a perk noted in the comparison chart above, for us long-time supporters. We get unlimited file storage forever and ever. 
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I have very much appreciated reading all comments in this thread, the timing sucks to me personally- I so would have been for this one year ago… Circumstances change, thanks Dan for a great product and support as far as I’ve experienced it. I would be extra pleased to see some offline aspects of using the laser. And ability to use a strictly coordinate based system in addition to cameras… Expansion into recognizing different devices to engrave such as phones outside of apple devices (I know there are some but not many) just reading this thread reminds me of why I invested in the first place, this community is a great and powerful resource that maybe I should be using more often. How many products or services out there allow you to talk directly with the ceo? For this I am forever grateful. Thanks from Chattanooga TN,
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I think you nailed it here. The price point is just ridiculous. $600 per year, almost the cost of the ENTIRE Adobe Creative Suite of tools, for:
- Adding the ability to use fonts and basic shapes, which, honestly, should have been part of the V1 software
- Access to a stock library “2 million pieces of vector art, from space shuttles to sunflowers”
- Access to “dozens” of ready-to-go designs. Not their whole catalog. Just the “Free with Premium” section.
- Faster print times
Even as hobby level user, I have no interest in stock libraries or a marginal collection of ready-to-go prints. And charging an arm and a leg for better cloud computing is ridiculous.
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I would like to see a little more reasonable pricing tier like Cricut does for their Access that includes designs. Their Design Space Software is free with purchase of machines, they don’t charge for it, only the designs in Access! They also offer a discount to those you sign up for “YEARLY” and pay for the whole year upfront. You might take a look at how they do it and update your pricing to be a better match to what people are willing to pay and can afford in the crazy year of 2020!
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I guess the term I was looking for was crowdfunded, which I participated in.
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True, they did make the servers go faster once already. I appreciate that. I also expect that of online services. They’re supposed to get better over time.
But shouldn’t all prints just be running as fast as possible, always? As it’s been explained to me in this thread, the server load has been handed off to a cloud computing infrastructure. Shouldn’t GlowForge allow Google Cloud to spin up as many instances as it needs to keep everyone’s prints running as quickly as possible? The very notion of having a “Fast Lane” means “we know HOW to make your prints go faster. We just don’t think it’s AFFORDABLE for us.”
But I’m not buying that. How much could it possibly cost GlowForge to spin up enough cloud computing resources so that all print jobs received “fast lane” speed? A penny per print?
Look, GlowForge had a pretty hard sell to make when it decided to make a machine that would only work when connected to the Internet. That was a radical decision. And it saddled them with ongoing server maintenance costs. In exchange for buying into this radical idea, I expected that having the software run online wouldn’t compromise the speed or reliability of the hardware.
For them to say now that you have to pay for the best speed they know how to deliver is a crap move. Glowforge reaped HUGE benefits by virtualizing their software. Arbitrarily setting up a “fast lane” and a “slow lane” now is just taking advantage of that situation.
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It’s hard to buy in without knowing the details, since I wouldn’t use any of the other features.
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I’m going to suggest that to my internet provider. I should be able to get 1gb up and down for the same price as 200 down/10up, because it’s technically feasible.
That’s what we are saying, right?
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@chris1 posted a link to the Google pricing; the high-end servers are significantly more expensive to use, so it’s quite likely they can’t just provide it to everyone for free. I mean, it’s in our best interests for them not to go under, so I’m not going to complain about them finding ways to add an income stream that doesn’t detract from what I’ve already bought and paid for. 
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I suspect the “free for premium” files will make it worthwhile for a lot of folks.
At present time, there are about 50 free for premium files. Many are utter rubbish. “Ballon drink stirrer”. “Cheers drink stirrer”. “Bubble wand”. " Most are in the $2 range. If you purchased half of all those designs (unlimited printing) today, it would cost you less than $50. Does that sound like $50/month worth of value to you? To me, that feels like $5/month value maximum.
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Have you tried using jigs? The camera is nice, but if you’re wanting more exact, use a jig and you’ll be spot on.
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Well, I’m doing it mainly for that reason myself. But I don’t know…if the terms don’t look good enough, I can always drop the subscription later. $15 a month is worth looking at it for me. (Not to say that it would be for everyone, but it’s reasonable for me now.)
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Dan,
Do you expect to announce the details of the library file for sale/royalty program before the November 3rd deadline so we can make a more fully informed decision?
Also, are there any plans to secure licensing agreements to use corporate trademarks designs like Disney, NFL, etc.?
Thanks!
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This is why I don’t like submitting designs to catalogs for sale. It’s such a downer. 
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The new free features are great. Sorting should have been there from day one. (I’d still like to see support for folders added at some point. And that should be in the free tier, not premium.) Export is also long overdue, although it’s probably most useful in conjunction with the premium design tools.
As someone who has had to deal with pricing for long-term online storage for my department, I can understand why they’re getting rid of unlimited storage for new customers. The cost of that certainly adds up over time! But I’m very glad they’re keeping it for existing customers. Taking that away would hurt. But they’ll need to make it very clear up front for new purchasers.
As for premium, the feature set looks a lot better than when they first announced the beta. But there’s no way I’d pay $50/month. However, the discounted $15/month rate is pretty reasonable, particularly given the “Free with Premium” catalog designs. (Hopefully that selection continues to grow rapidly and doesn’t stagnate the way the normal catalog did the last few years.) But I really don’t like the way they’re pressuring people to lock in the reduced rate now, without disclosing the full plans for future features.
Speaking of possible future features, I’m hoping Snapmarks are included soon. It’s a great feature (that I was lucky enough to get very early on) and while it’s a bit tricky to use it’s vitally important for certain use cases, such as printing stickers or card stock on an inkjet or laser printer and then cutting them in the Glowforge.
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Yeps, I already signed up. Will be interested to test one of my passthrough designs as a before and after with someone who doesn’t buy in.
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