Do you think that Redactor pricing is over the top?

[Danielx64]

Yeah I just saw the price for the OEM version: $1495.... Also I happen to see this blog post: https://imperavi.com/blog/be_picky/ and to me that is quite sad if you ask me. I know that those guys need to make money and put food on the table, but seriously?

Is it just me or do others feel the same?

 

[BrandonSheley]

I wouldn't pay 150$ for an editor.. but that may just be me

 

[Digital Doctor]

I'm sure Xenforo throws the OEM money at them as fast as they can.
Danielx64 - are you going to develop a web application ?

 

[Danielx64]

I'm sure Xenforo throws the OEM money at them as fast as they can.
Danielx64 - are you going to develop a web application ?

I would have consider using it in some of my plugins, mainly for CMS/blog based plugins. Considering what I forked used tinymce and it own custom WYSWIYG HTML editor (I merged 2 different projects into one) I think I will just leave it with tinymce and be done with it.

There's a great deal of similar thinking in a post by Jason Fried of 37signals; for student projects there are free options of CKEditor or TinyMCE: you wouldn't use expensive Photoshop to compose a poster for your garage sale, why then would you use professional WYSIWYG for your school project?

That is a load of BS, because Adobe would give students a discount for their software, Jetbrains would give away some of their software to opensource project developers to use (it needed to be renewed each year but that I minor thing) so it is possible to use professional grade software/services when on a tight budget.

I think MyBB wanted to use it, but I am not sure if they will fork out the cash needed.

 

[LeadCrow]

OEM pricing before was good. Not so much now for hobbyists, but still cheap for serious projects. If 1500$ breaks your company's back, you can pick bloated mobile-unfriendly ones or spend a few hundred allnighters making your own amazing one that will still suck and have no ecosystem (taking time away from your other projects. How much is your team's time worth?).

The gains to be seen from using Redactor far exceed the price asked of OEMs and opensource projects. Post editors are a healthy enough market now, and alternatives exist to Redactor, albeit most tend to suffer from minuscule ecosystems, poor status and a development status inches away from being discontinued.

I would have consider using it in some of my plugins, mainly for CMS/blog based plugins. Considering what I forked used tinymce and it own custom WYSWIYG HTML editor (I merged 2 different projects into one) I think I will just leave it with tinymce and be done with it.

There's lightweight equivalents to Redactor about as good, just with minuscule ecosystems and no meaningful adoption, so development and support status can be poor.
See SummerNote and particularly Froala for an example (havent checked but Froala looks like a rebranded Redactor with the old cheaper OEM pricing).

 

[rafalp]

That is a load of BS, because Adobe would give students a discount for their software, Jetbrains would give away some of their software to opensource project developers to use (it needed to be renewed each year but that I minor thing) so it is possible to use professional grade software/services when on a tight budget.

Fun fact: Redactor license was granted to certain OS projects:

https://github.com/douglasmiranda/django-wysiwyg-redactor

Personally I'm big fan of Medium's approach to writing, and I am pleased that over time OS implementations got pretty stable for production use, so that may land in Misago eventually.

 

[Robust]

It used to be like $50 for full commercial use, when XenForo got it. They raised their prices heavily afterwards.

 

[Danielx64]

It used to be like $50 for full commercial use, when XenForo got it. They raised their prices heavily afterwards.

Was it really that cheap?

 

[LeadCrow]

Was it really that cheap?

Of course not, the cheaper prices are only for your own live projects and sites, not code you redistribute.
It was around 500-600 for OEM licences. Interestingly, OEM licences used to be more expensive before. Rundown of what I found:

Early 2014: OEM: 990$ / Pro: 199$
Mid 2014: OEM 499$ / Pro 199$ / Basic: 99$ (new tier)
2016: OEM 1495$ / Pro 495$ / Basic 145$

Redactor was added in XF 1.2 (mid 2013), OEM-priced 990$ back then.

 

[Robust]

Of course not, the cheaper prices are only for your own live projects and sites, not code you redistribute.
It was around 500-600 for OEM licences. Interestingly, OEM licences used to be more expensive before. Rundown of what I found:

Early 2014: OEM: 990$ / Pro: 199$
Mid 2014: OEM 499$ / Pro 199$ / Basic: 99$ (new tier)
2016: OEM 1495$ / Pro 495$ / Basic 145$

Redactor was added in XF 1.2 (mid 2013), OEM-priced 990$ back then.

I'm sure it was really cheap at some point. I did some research on Redactor and saw that pricing used to be very cheap at some point, early on when it came out I think. $50 might have been over-exaggerating it, but there was a $49 plan as well. It was definitely cheaper in the past.

It's a shame because there aren't many 'really good' editors.

Edit:
https://web.archive.org/web/20121010132833/http://imperavi.com/redactor/download/

I must be mistaken somehow, apparently as far back as it goes it was $99 for the cheapest, $399 for OEM

Try checking out: https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor

I looked into editors for a panel I was making for one of my companies and Redactor was my choice but I didn't want to pay that much, so I just went with CKEditor skinned, but I learnt of Froala later. Looks good.

 

[emanuele]

I'm wary of mixing different open source licenses in the same project, let alone mix a closed source and an open source one.

That is a load of BS, [...] so it is possible to use professional grade software/services when on a tight budget.

You probably missed the point where they say "we don't want to get involved in donating anything".
And that's completely fine with me, also because if you are distributing an open source project, what's the point of fitting in some code that cannot be re-distributed by a derivative product? Cut down the possible competition? Don't release it as open source to begin with.
Of course, different is if someone creates a plugin/addon/stuff the can be applied to the project, but then this is not the project itself so it's all good.

Spoiler

Please not I'm fine with closed source code, and I'm fine with using closed source software to develop open source one and all the possible permutations, it's not I'm an open source fanboy or something.
I just don't see the point of mixing the two things in the same distribution package.

 

[dtdesign]

Redactor is a great choice and in my opinion superior to free alternatives by an order of magnitude. They offer a solid editor that is super fast and stable (especially on mobile browsers), and on top of that the OEM license comes with an excellent support.

All though the OEM license appears to be rather expensive to some (and heck, we own a license for both Redactor and Redactor II), you're still missing a crucial part: A working WYSIWYG editor is a major component of every forum software and you simply can't afford to go with a less-than-optimal solution instead, it simply does not pay out. Additionally you have to consider the price compared to all other expenses that a company has, for example monthly wages for a single employee are usually much higher than that.

 

[SAFAD]

1.2.3 Viva Markdown!

Source : https://github.com/lepture/editor​

 

[s.molinari]

Personally I'm big fan of Medium's approach to writing, and I am pleased that over time OS implementations got pretty stable for production use.

I agree.

Scott

 

[rafalp]

Actually on last React-Conf Facebook has opensourced the code behind their rich media inputs and Notes editor:

 

[cclaerhout]

For information.

 

[pierce]

It's 38 renewals of xenforo.

It's effectivity a small running cost for a company.

If they had more sales I'm sure the price would go down.

Adobe full creative cloud is €800 a year plus vat. But then millions of people will buy a subscription....

You won't get that many buying a text editor.

Just remember it's the first thing a member of your site uses.

It's the tipping point. If they can't contribute easily there and then... They could be gone.

 

[dtdesign]

Christos Teriakis Surely it is expensive when looking at it from a private person's perspective, but when you're running a business it is actually well within the boundaries. Your monthly expenses for employees are an order of magnitude higher and even if you're a single person, your monthly income (including taxes, social security, health insurance and whatever else you can think of) is larger than that.

Furthermore, even if it would be an annual fee, it still breaks down to $125 per month which is really low.

The bottom line is, these license costs are an absolute fraction of a company's expenses. You're not buying such a license as a private person, but as a company: That does change everything.