Devonthink To Go - subscription or one-time purchase?

Software
1

The current pricing for Devonthink To Go 3 (DTTG 3) is something like this (depending on which app store you use):

Monthly: 1.99 EUR
Yearly: 16.49 EUR
One time purchase of version 3: 47,99 EUR

DTTG 3 came out in February 2021 and I have no idea, how long it might take for version 4 to come out, but it would have to be at least three years for the one time purchase to make any sense. To actually save money, we’d want more like four years, right?

So I’m wondering: did anyone go for the one time purchase back in 2021? And would anyone go for it today?

Even for me as some who avoids subscriptions wherever possible, this seems to be a no brainer. The only way I can make sense of this pricing model is that it’s supposed to tell people like myself: you better get used to subscriptions, or you’ll pay for it. Or am I missing something?

2

I went for the OTP. Devon doesn’t release major versions frequently. DTTG 2 was around for at least 5 years. Devonthink on the Mac went (IIRC) about 10 years between major version updates.

DT make reasonably frequent function/feature updates without a major version change too, which is a Good Thing

3

Factor in upgrade pricing too, assuming there will be a discount.

4

I don’t remember what I paid for with the OTP of DTTG 3, but there was an upgrade discount. DEVONThink has done that pretty consistently for years. I doubt that will change.

@toffy There have been regular updates to DTTG 3 since the release. I don’t use it very often but I can sync specific databases to DTTG 3 and that’s worked out great for me when I need to access a document on my phone. For me the OTP was worth it and it would not surprise me at all if there’s 3 years or more between major releases. DEVONThink is slow (in a good way) regarding that.

5

I bought the one time purchase because of the upgrade pricing and knew that I would use it long enough for the break even pricing. If you’re not sure if you would use it, i would go monthly until you determine that one time pricing makes sense.

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6

I paid $20 for the one-time upgrade from DTTG. The subscription, I think, was $15/year. It was a pretty easy decision.

7

I usually pay for subscription because usually I’m too poor to pay for one time purchase. But if you can afford OTP, I’d rather go you for with that. You don’t want to be jobless or broke at one point and had no choice but to not renew. That’s what happened to me when the pandemic happened. Lost a lot of access to essential tools.

8

Thanks, everyone. Great to see so many OTP people here. I will continue to evaluate how much I actually use DTTG. It strikes me that any people (not just in this thread) say that they ended up never really using it and I can see a risk for me ending up in the same situation…

Note to self: stop saving stuff to Evernote and use DTTG instead. That way you might also get the hang of Devonthink and integrate it more into your workflows.

9

The thing with DTTG is that it is no replacement to the desktop DT tool, nor does it intend to be --and that’s ok, hence the “to go” moniker. It will allow you to find stuff on your DT library while you are out and about but that’s it, it has some capture capabilities but generally the app itself is a little bit rough.

For me it was instant purchase because I was invested in DT at the time…

Do it with an open mind, consider you may reach the conclusion that Evernote is fine for your use case.

1 Like
10

My bit of advice is to not go overboard syncing all your databases to mobile, and to avoid all your largest databases if possible. DTTG doesn’t background sync yet, so if it has to update anything sizable while you have the mobile app open, which adds friction.

I think it’s a solid little app, other than that. Great for studying and reviewing on iPad, especially.