The pro version… which is what most people here will want to use… is $200.
And only allows you to use it on 2 computers.
Needless to say, I’ll be giving this one a pass.
It was supposed to be on the Mac App Store, but it doesn’t seem to be (and given that it would allow 5 computers, would it have been $500?)
Well worth it to me; I use it all day, every day for work. N.B. upgrade was half that price.
The upgrade price isn’t bad… but the limitation to 2 computers kills the usefulness to me.
They claim that it was abused (and few use more than 2), but have massively overcorrected. Limiting to 5 would have been OK.
I hesitated, but bought in early on in the beta process.
Sometimes I think a lot of what I do with DEVONthink is possible with other apps and services—but that works in the other direction, too. I have recently been experimenting with replacing my RSS services with DEVONthink, for instance, saving me $70/year.
The nicest thing about the tools for me has been a refreshing of workflows with the long-term in mind. Before DT I tended to maintain my work in progress, notes, and reference material in “default” places: whatever first occurred to me when I was dealing with each category of thing. Now I try to think about how to build up these materials over time. It’s nice to have a tool encourage better behaviors that way.
Or maybe I’m just working hard to justify the cost. 
Seems you can add extra seats to the included two, at $99 each.
It is probably the most powerful app in its category. The developer will pour a lot of time and effort into it over several years of free updates. So the price is definitely justified.
It is a poor logic to make so many baseless assumptions.
I’ve been thinking long about this.
And have decided to upgrade this one time, (and start looking at a replacement.)
They’ve only charged my once in the past 8 years. So for now I’m doing the upgrade, but that better last at least another 5…
I’ve been looking at Keep It (https://reinventedsoftware.com/keepit/) and EagleFiler (https://c-command.com/eaglefiler/). But DT checks all the boxes for me.
I’ve done the same, it’s the iOS apps combined with the mac apps that do it for me.
They’re just fire and forget with Hazel doing the heavy lifting, and I can find anything I want from anywhere.
So yes, 99.- is expensive for an upgrade, but if it lasts as long as the previous one (>10 years) I’m not complaining too much. The only annoying thing is the license restriction to 2 macs. That’s nonsense.
That’s the killer for me, too. I care far more about that than about the price.
I tend to do clean installs on my Mac whenever I upgrade, not to mention dual-booting. Right now my MacBook Air is booting Catalina and Mojave – that would be “two seats” as far as DevonThink is concerned, even though it’s the same computer.
When asked, DevonTech said that few people use more than 2 computers and that their old system was abused. It’s a gross overcorrection to cut off legitimate users because of the actions of a few. A license for 5 computers would have added a lot more flexibility for their users and still cut down on abuse.
Apparently they are going to bring it to the Mac App Store:
We’ve released DEVONthink 3 only to our website right now. We will bring it also to the App Store but need a bit more time to adjust everything for the required sandboxing.
Given that the Mac App Store does not allow them to restrict it to 2 computers, it will be interesting to see what the pricing is there. Of course you’d lose any upgrade-pricing discount, but it might be worth it if you want the flexibility that the Mac App Store allows.
I get that it may be a problem for some, but I also think 2 seats are enough for the vast majority of users. DT offers a purchase of additional seats and companies can use the server version. I think they did it in order to not go the subscription way.
And we will see what they will do in the App Store version.
It’s interesting that they have user seat limits on the version they sell yet they say they’re going to make it available in the App Store, which does permit such limits. (They say that the App Store version is delayed only because of sandboxing-related tweaks they have to finish.) Did they find a way around the limits for their App Store version, or will that version cost more because it can be installed on more Macs?
Three years ago I realized the app was overkill for my needs, combined with chafing for years against the UI and a couple of bugs, so I switched to a Mac-only competitor, EagleFiler, from the developer of Spamsieve. That $24 I spent ($30 minus 20% discount with Tidbits.com membership) was worth every penny. At this point I’m looking into migrating to a Mac/iOS solution, so I’m very slowly considering migrating again, either to Notebooks (which I already own) or FSNotes (which I also own - for $3.99 on Mac it’s ‘NValt on steroids’) or perhaps Keep It. Taking my time to decide, but I’m pretty sure DevonThink is not in the running right now.
I would pay double or triple. Well worth it!! (But gotta have a need, and just because some don’t recognise the value or don’t have the need, doesn’t mean it’s mis-priced).
Wow.
I hope and assume they’ve done their pricing due diligence.
I guess it’s similar to how other pro apps, like Logic and final cut, are priced.
But it encourages me, as a personal user, to really think about whether or not I can make another solution work.
No. Those are not merely pro apps, they’re underpriced compared to the competition. Logic (with its drumkit designer and included instruments and iPad controller functionality and 30+ Gb downloadable content and integration with Apple Mainstage), especially so.
Devonthink, having shed its old lower-end Devonthink (and even lower-end DevonNote app) is more like Omni, which jacked up the price of OmniOutliner to $99, and the iOS app to $50
I just upgraded. I use DT Pro all the time and most of its features. It is, for my workflow, far superior to other solutions I’ve tried. I would rather pay a one time upgrade price that will last me as long as I choose than add another subscription. I don’t like the two computer restriction either BUT, DT 2 on my iPhone syncs with DT 3 on my MBP and iPad (I just confirmed the process) so I can still use three devices. I seldom use my iPhone for DT so this will work until/unless the developers stop supporting DT 2 sync with DT3.
Isn’t the 2 seat thing mac only? It may make sense this way, but if you need to count iOS devices too it gets unbearable
I kind of agree with you about the limitation to 2. I understand how they feel though, I can imagine the hacking that goes on with this in some labs and academic settings. They should do what EndNote did and try to get institutional licences BUT they might not have the usage there to do that… It is a headache for them? They have surely thought of a long term strategy to get into that position. Maybe they feel now they won’t.
Still I tend to agree with you. I will write them with this point.
I stopped using any ‘hacked’ stuff, on principle and because it creates more problems than it solves usually, some time ago.
I am locked in to this app; I use it for everything, that is what makes it useful but I feel uneasy about it. I believe I could get stuff out if they went out of business or… I only need two copies of DEVONthink. I took a long time learning it too.
Does anybody know of any good alternatives, just out of interest?
