Hello! Is there a way to test Sketch without having an active license? Maybe with some kind of very limited access or as an extended trial?
Hey @wwwedran — just to be clear, are you asking about a way to test the Beta releases without a license, or Sketch in general? Either way, I’m curious as to the context here — what’s the specific use case or need that would make this necessary?
It would be great for Beta testers to have access whether they can actively use Sketch at this moment or not. This is especially for those in the community that want to go back to using Sketch that were forced to use other tools due to their clients or job requirements. It is difficult to justify paying for a license every month while not using it on paid projects.
Not sure if it is possible to have such access where you still limit the use but allow enough for testing purposes.
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We’ve discussed it, along with other ideas like extending the trial period, but it’s a tricky one to get right. We’re not in the same position as some of the bigger players who have lots of funding that enables them to give away the product for free. We rely on the income from selling the product to pay for server costs, staff salaries, etc.
Right now, we offer a free 30-day trial and it is possible to start a trial again if you’ve had one before (although we do monitor this closely for abuse). In a trial, you can use the beta builds as well.
It’s something we’ll keep reviewing and thinking about, but it’s unlikely we’ll offer a free plan as it’s simply not sustainable for us.
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Understood. I didn’t mean free tier, but some testing program. I figured it would be hard to give access but still limit abuse.
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With regard to a free tier, something similar to Figma’s 3 file max and no library features could be a good way to let people have a taste of Sketch, and could also get Sketch into the hands of lots of people who wouldn’t initial consider purchasing Sketch, but would like a design program. That approach would create an opportunity for exposure and increased ubiquity across the Mac design ecosystem, without increasing operating costs. Such exposure would open a lot of doors for future customers and online discussions to occur.
The only major “gotcha” I can think of is dealing with Sketch versioning for customers who have a full Sketch licenses for previous versions. There would have to be some special mechanics to differentiate between the latest version (including the files therein) on the free tier and the previous version with an expired license.
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Yep, we’ve considered something like this as well, but ultimately it doesn’t work for us for a few reasons:
- You can have local documents with Sketch, and we have no way of capping/controlling that. So a 3 file max. limit wouldn’t work in our context.
- Pay-gating features is a tricky one to get right (it can work really well for some, but I personally know of other products who’ve got it really wrong) and can be a frustrating user experience.
- There are still business costs associated with plans like these (think customer support, which folks on a free tier should rightly expect!) and those costs increase with lots of people on a free plan.
It’s a trade-off. There’s some truth to the argument that a free plan would help bring in new customers to try the product (although there’s evidence out there that a lot of these folks won’t convert into paid customers), but ultimately you still need to be the kind of company that’s propped up by lots of funding, without any pressure to be profitable, to make it work well. That’s just not desirable for us.
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Understood, thanks for the insights!
As an alternative to a 3 file max, a maximum number of objects per file could be an alternative (e.g. 30 layers/objects – I don’t know the correct amount), and no library access.
For customer support, you could add a signifier to users on this forum who are customers, similar to how you change the avatar for staff. That could allow for some sense of priority for comms. Plus the subreddit could support some of the overflow.
although there’s evidence out there that a lot of these folks won’t convert into paid customers
I think it’s deeper than that. Broad exposure and access creates little chain reactions that could help keep Sketch in the minds and conversations of designers and stakeholders. I suspect that the average Sketch user is somewhat different today than they were 5-10 years ago – if there’s a means to get a significant number of people who aren’t currently [and are unlikely to become in the immediate future] customers using Sketch, even for little things, it could have a reverberating effect that’s difficult to measure.
Just noting – feels like a relevant discussion to keep alive.