Just subscribed, but one minor point - it said my trial lasted until mid Jan, but when you subscribe- the expiry is the anniversary of when you subscribed and not the end of the trial.
Never-the-less, fully understand the need to charge and hopefully you will be successful, and as a result looking forward to seeing the platform grow…
Regards
Thanks! Yes, that’s a limitation set by our payments service provider I’m afraid; it’s something we’re still looking into with them. DanT
I came across Apilio in the last month and tinkered with it trying it out with a particular product where I was looking for a particular result. I created two logic blocks for that one product so it would do two different things. It worked well and I was very pleased. I was planning to tinker with it more to see what else I might do or how I could use Apolio with my growing home of IoT. An opportunity to get creative and be innovative. Unfortunately, this subscription (while I appreciate an innovator wants to monetize his creations) really puts a wet blanket on tinkering to find out what I can do with Apilio and if it’s the right product for me to continue on with. There have been a number of good suggestions in these comments about how the current subscription plan might be revised to give new and light-use users an opportunity to explore and get hooked and add to the Apilio community with their intellect. The current subscription tiers are just too limiting and unnecessarily so. I think what may be overlooked by Apilio is that a subscription which does not allow room for folks to tinker for free indefinitely and get hooked on the product is perhaps a little short sighted. The future viability of Apilio is arguably based upon the innovative uses the community of users do with the product and bringing new users t the community. You need that community and want it to grow. The current subscription approach does not encourage people to come try out and use the product and does not encourage users who have dipped their feet into the water to stay. In my instance, I just started and created two logic blocks, which would require the most expensive subscription. That cost threshold - for a user that just started to tinker with Apilio - does not encourage me. Hopefully, Apilio will reconsider the structure on its subscription plans to provide more leeway for light users to work with the product and explore. Perhaps, a free user-plan for those using 4 logic blocks or less. And, for heavy users, a subscription plan like that Apilio has announced already. Light users may eventually become heavy users and Apilio will reap the reward of those users moving into the paid subscription plan to pay for their heavier usage, and Apilio also benefits from the innovation those light users bring to the community. Apilio might also consider other ways to raise revenue - sell advertisement space on its web pages - it’s a perfect platform for smart product manufacturers to advertise their products. (Interestingly, by selling advertisement space, it creates an incentive for Apilio to bring more users and traffic to its webpages and free usage within a set framework is probably one of the best ways to encourage people to come, use and stay - look at how community forums for enthusiasts of a particular area have worked for years.) . Apilio, thanks for a neat product/service and hopefully, you’ll reconsider the structure of the subscription tiers.
Excellent post Chris, thanks. We are continuing to consider the best way forward and will make some updates early in the new year!
The lack of a “numeric constant” option in the condition blocks is something that should have been addressed long before this paid subscription model was created. Having to create a bunch of placeholders for these constants just clutters up my variable list. Now that I’m a paying customer, I think I have a right to see this fixed, especially if it’s going to limit my use of the system.
For the starter plan, there is a 2 variable limit. Is this 2 for all 3 variable types? I.e., boolean, numeric and string. Or is it 2 for each type? Thanks!
Hi @Georgieboy,
it’ currently 2 for all 3 types.
We received a lot of feedback on our initial plan rollout and we understand that many find this too limiting. Of course we are listening and constantly trying to improve, so there are probably going to be some updates to the plans in the near future.
I’ve subscribed. I am a simple user with a very basic knowledge of what I can be achieved. I can easily get by with Apilio, but every time I’ve had a question it’s been answered inside 24 hours. That, and the little extra steps i can take with Apilio is worth it. I’ve seen the improvement over the 12 months and look forward to seeing the continued growth. Good luck.
Congrats on the new Apilio! I love the ease of use and am interested in working with both types of accounts - the starter account should be useful for keeping my simple routines organized in separate accounts (another approach you may consider for the future is offering a folders feature to keep individual routines organized). For the starter plan, “what’s included” doesn’t mention any limits on conditions - is there a limit to these? Thanks! Al
Thanks. Another thought I thought I’d pass along: as part of some future free tier of usage, in return for that free tier of usage you might have light-use users post the details (without including any privacy information/details) of their use/creations so other folks in the community to see what creative solutions can be done with Apilio and the whole community benefits from their contribution.
Thanks Al!
For organisation I could also envision a labelling feature, so you could bring together all configs that are related on one overview.
The number of conditions is not limited.
Thanks very much Philipp! As I mentioned to you a while back, I’m evaluating Apilio as an add-on for a smart switch product. End-users would be encouraged to purchase the Apilio starter package as an enhancement to the product and provided with instructions for the Apillio/IFTTT routine. This works great for one routine that creates a delay using 2 variable based on weather conditions from Weather Underground. Another routine I’d like to offer requires 3 variables, so it would be great if there were at least one more Apilio plan tier (or else more variables for the starter plan, additional actions would be nice too). Al
Why does the starter plan not include action delays? I have one variable, one condition and one logic block with two actions. One of those actions however includes a delay which, if I’m reading the terms correctly, means the starter plan is not allowed.
Also, will the subscription page allow you to sign up for a starter plan if your account is not supported?
What will happen if you sign up for the starter plan but your account uses unsupported features? Will they be deleted or simply not run?
Hey thanks for the post and whoops you’re right, we didn’t mean to exclude delays from the starter plan. We have now made that explicit on the pricing page and appreciate you pointing it out.
To answer your other questions the subscriber pages will allow you to sign up for a plan your account doesn’t support although they will display a warning if you’re out of plan. We are still receiving feedback on how people use Apilio which will guide and inform the evolution of pricing plans.