Upcoming Changes to Podio Free - 2019
There have been further updates to Podio Free in 2022. Check out details here.
At the end of 2017 we stood at 750 million items created and today we have crossed a new big milestone to reach 1 billion items created - this is 1 billion projects, deliverables, clients, tickets and so much more. Thank you for your support in this amazing journey.
While we are glad to be creating value for customers, our product usage is scaling aggressively and it demands better performance optimization, which is a good problem to have.
In 2018 we focused on enhancing stability and scalability for Podio and we had to let go of many feature enhancements in lieu of that. On the same lines, we are now introducing a limit on the number of items that can be created in an organization on free plan. This way we would be able to create more value for our customers who are paying for their subscriptions.
New Item Limit Policy
An organization (org) on a free plan, can create up to 500 items in total, across its workspaces and apps. Once an organization reaches the 500 item limit, it will need to upgrade to any one of the paid plans or else it will enter the edit-only mode and eventually get locked. Please note here, if a user has both paid and free organizations and he crosses the 500 item limit for the free org, then his access will only be locked for the free org and there would be no impact on the paid org.
The existing free and paid features will remain the same.
What happens to the existing free organizations that already have more than 500 items?
We are providing all existing organizations a 30 days notice before we release the limit to them between mid-late January 2019. Organizations can use this 30 day notice period to either upgrade their plan for uninterrupted access or take backup and delete some items to come below the 500 limit. On rolling out this limit, all organizations that are above the 500 limit, will enter the edit-only mode where they can view, edit, export and delete their data but cannot create new items. They will have another 30 days in this edit-only mode to upgrade their plan before their account gets locked out.
What is the edit-only mode?
On reaching the 500 item limit for an organization, its users will have access to their data on an edit-only mode for 30 days where they can view, edit, export and delete their data but cannot create new items. It is possible to delete old items to get below the 500 item limit and thereby be able to create new items again.
What happens to the Data for a Locked Account
If an organization does not upgrade even after 30 days in the edit-only mode, then the organization account will get locked and users will lose access to their data on Podio for that organization. They will need to upgrade to paid to access data or reach out to Podio support for further assistance. As per Policy, Podio will store the data for an inactive free user account for 13 months, post which, all the data will be deleted.
Communication
We understand that right and timely communication is the key to such plan changes. So we are sending out this plan change details to all users now, giving a 30 days timeline to all organizations that are already above the 500 limit to make necessary changes to their plan before the limit gets applicable for them.
In addition to offline communication, there will also be in-app communication in the form of banners and paywall modals that would warn the user on exceeding 80% of the item limit and block creation of new item on reaching the 100% limit.
Release Plan
- New free sign-ups will get the new paywalls starting early January 2019 - Released
- Existing free organizations will get the new paywalls late January 2019 - Postponed to 4th Feb 2019
- New Item Limit further changes to 100 items for free organisations - Check details here. - Release starting 17th Oct 2022
If you have questions or concerns about the upcoming change, please reach out to our team here.
Stay tuned for more updates on when the feature goes live. We are looking forward to supporting your business in the future, and offering more value for our paid customers in 2019.
Thank you.
/Pallabi - Product Manager
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Yet another great app, which decides to abruptly charge their existing, loyal users - many of whom have stuck with you through down-times, development cycles, and basically allowed you to build your product. And then you do this. I will never understand why these companies (and now Podio, after Citrix take-over) can't understand that NEW customers should be monetized this way - not loyal, existing customers. We should be grandfathered in - and potentially increased slowly in price over time, and not get access to new features (which you say you will develop).
As a note: we're a paying customer, so this is not (only) about being cheap. But we started as a free organization, and the ability to grow within the free tier without too much worry was very important (who can live with 500 items ?). I have recommended you broadly, Podio - until now.
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Oh wow! As a user of podio for nearly 7 years now, I am not sure about this new direction. I’ve relied on podio to collaborate with team members across the globe and store valuable information. The 30 day window to upgrade or risk losing access to your data is pretty scary in my opinion! Staying in edit mode for an unlimited (or at least 6-months) gives an organization time to build this into their budget as it is not cheap. Imposing limits on items, without giving us an explanation as to what exactly counts as an item or an easy way to find out your current count also seems a bit unfair.
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This is not ok! Horrible.. I have a very small studio. Me and my wife working here. I use podio to share things with her. Only 2 users.. but will mean USD 216 per year.. to have an environment to share / collaborate on basic things.. I think I will take the effort to backup/copy the info, and go away, and also I think I will not recommend podio anymore. I was confident. I recommended podio..But now, the experience becomes horrible... I think you did't anticipate well the very ugly experience this will mean to lots of users. Bad decision.
This is not the way to do business in long term.. by ejecting people from your service. You should charge the users that a actually have many people collaborating ( big enterprises, etc.. ) ... but organizations with 1 or 2 people collaborating ??? God luck..
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Wow. Feel bad for introducing Podio to multiple companies if this is how they treat customers. Signed up for a paid plan which they then decided was not making enough money and moved us to the free plan to then try to force us to pay $3500+/month for a plan we were paying $100/month for when we joined.
Is there a way to get our data out in bulk?I wonder how this is going to affect Podio TrustPilot reviews?
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Why is it always the same, first you are lured with a product that suits you, then you convert it and it has different options than before? Why don't you just put it in a table with the changes to the old options in a clear way, without having to study the whole pamphlet again? A weak performance!
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sync.thatapp.io is an extensions that allows you to bulk backup all items within your organization and into a MongoDB that you can integrate with and build upon. It also provides you a count of all spaces, apps, items and files found within podio while continually syncing your live data created, updated or deleted within podio.
Due to this announcement, we are focusing all development efforts on expanding its interface to allow for greater interaction with your data via Pivot tables and more. These improvements will be in place well before the cutoff time, therefore, should you need to delete records within podio and have a secure and interactive space for your data. Please consider Sync as a viable option to help you accomplish this.
Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have: support@techego.com -
What awful timing, and really 500 items.... how many active accounts have less than 500 items, >1%? Seems your really sticking it to the loyal users who, like me, consist of organizations of 2-3 people over several small & Startup businesses. Unfortunately It's another "pay to play" situation and everyone wants their hands in my pocket, I'll have to move on and look elsewhere.
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Here’s a quote that still exists on the Podio website when you search for Podio on the web: “On Podio, work with a team of up to 5 members free, forever. Upgrade to our premium plan to get 1-1 training sessions from our superhero team ...” That’s why I signed up to test it out. Free forever. Why don’t you do the right thing and be smart by charging new customers, not the ones that helped build your business. That’s what google did with Gmail. That’s what you should do. I have recommended Podio to numerous companies who are paying. Unfortunately you have lied to us and are not to be trusted, especially with our data.
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I just upgraded this year to automate some systems with GobiFlow, but we have roughly 5000 items so would have been invested enough to upgrade with this change anyway.
I would recommend bumping the item limit to 1500 that keeps it usable for a small biz to grow into a paying customer.
Just an idea.
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For nonprofits I would like to recommend Microsoft. They have a lot of options and are taking nonprofits seriously. Not everything is completely free, but basic options are, and the rest are at great discounts! Especially Microsoft Teams seems to have a promising future :-)
I was excited about Podio in the beginning, but now it seems like a dead end. Thanks for some good years and good luck in the future! I also liked it because it was born in Denmark where I live, but since Citrix bought it, it's heading the wrong (corporate/expensive) way :-(
For other good alternatives, look at TechSoup website, which is the connection/provider between nonprofilts and companies like Microsoft.
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We are a nonprofit organization that has been using Podio for over 5 years, and we have almost all our data and records on Podio. We use multiple Podio forms for collecting information submitted on our website. We probably have multiple thousands of items.
The way this change has been rolled out will make me reconsider using Podio going forward, whether the change applies to nonprofits or not. Rolling this out right before the holidays, the limited amount of time orgs have to comply, and the lack of information and transparency about pricing are not the way to handle loyal, long-time users of Podio. There are just no words to convey the level of my disappointment and frustration. -
Oh Santa. What Is that? First you limited our calendars so that a lot of Customer like us stopped a paid Plan. Mentionened reason: backend and amourösen of Data. First big laugh.
Now you get rid of small and non profit companies by another Limitation? Next big fail in the long run.Thx for reminding me to Backup our Data and leave this platform. we supported Podio since 8 years and left a good bunch of € here. Sad to realize your new Philosophy.
Good luck for the future. LOL. Who pays These days for a software Solution which sets more and more restrictions instead of features? -
Noelle George while I can agree with some of your thoughts on the comment about how they would be apparently doing non-profits or not, keep in mind we aren't behind the scenes. I'm not sure if you are aware of the impact of growth especially when more than 40% of your client base is free and taking storage, compute etc away. But those things have been reduced greatly over the years, but they still aren't cheap. Even if you are on a paid plain or a free non-profit plan, this happens in the SaaS space when companies reach critical mass all the time.
They did inform us of the growth which many times SaaS providers don't. While I agree right before the holiday's isn't ideal but neither is people losing jobs. It happens. Not much you can do but deal with it and adapt.
I have to commend them for having 1 billion items. If you had to pay the real cost for that it would be crazy! So let's all work together to adapt or see what other options are there.
Some of you guys will leave, some of you won't. Either way, the service is moving forward and keeping afloat. This sudden change isn't any different from Citrix if you ware paying attention to Citrix XenServer virtualization.
My suggestion if you do plan on staying is to get more value from the app and that may require you to change the app. My second suggestion would be to utilize Zoho Connect or Zoho CRM. Personally, for non-profits you can't beat Zoho Connect for the free services it offers alongside of app building.
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Where are the ethics on all this issue ? This is the easy and ambitious path.. of breaking a promise, after telling people that up to 5 users will be free forever, and then just telling everyone that if they don't pay USD 9 per user/per month/per organization, then , you lost all your invested time to upload and organize things, etc.. : Man... this was the original promise of Podio: “On Podio, work with a team of up to 5 members free, forever. Upgrade to our premium plan to get 1-1 training sessions from our superhero team ...” You should make your accounts correctly before doing a promise you could not afford to fulfill .. and by breaking that promise, there is a DAMAGE and DETRIMENT, generated by Podio, to all the users that decided to use podio based on that promise.. Hope that Podio check over this decision..
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I have no problem with you changing the free plan levels and your pricing structure. You are a business meaning you are driven by profit which sometimes requires making pricing changes. It happens with many companies and users should understand that. You decision should also improve the service for paying customers by limiting resource spent on free users.
But I have MAJOR issues with the way in which you are implementing the change. Many of the issues have been commented on by other users showing you really did a poor job of launching the change.
Here are the biggest mistakes:
- Giving users only 30 days during holiday season to make such a major decision(s) about whether to keep or changing systems, financial issues, backing up files, etc. For your customers that have been using Podio a few month to a few years, it's a tough turn around. I assume your team has been discussing this for sometime, why not give your users and advocates more time to make decisions as well.
- You notice has a stunning lack of clarity on WAY too many issues. When you make an announcement like this, you have to give users clarity on what it means. You didn't even give people basic information like what is considered an "item" under the new pricing structure. Here's a more complete list of missing information that user need to know and you show have addressed in advance.
- What is considered and item under the new pricing structure?
- How and/or will we be able to track items?
- How does this effect guests? Do guests under paid plans have limits with items?
- How are non-profits effected?
It's likely you will make more changes in the future. I hope you take the criticism you've received with this launch and make appropriate adjustments to avoid this in the future.
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While I knew this day was going to show up, I am extremely disappointed in how Podio decided to roll this announcement out at the end of the year. Most businesses have 1. already submitted budget proposals for 2019 and 2. probably won't be in the office until after the holidays. How can you, Citrix Podio, expect your customers to scramble to decide to pay for your service or research into a new software program, so late in the year? Your subscription plan prices are MORE than enough to cover costs of expanding servers and space to accommodate users and their apps. There are so many different software programs, like yours, out on the market today. Many, if not most of the software programs out there, listen to their customers on new advancements on the technology, yet, we are still dealing with the lack of calendar development, which is one of the easiest things to program into software. I have recommended your company to more than 10 different companies / police departments, and yes, police departments are using this software; however, this is not a business model that companies or departments want to choose when deciding on software. Very disappointed and unfortunately after many years, will now have to leave Podio.
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Oh no! That is terrible timing! I understand the need for a business to grow and to make money while at it. Your product is worth it. That said, you should have shown a little support to existing businesses supporting your product and spreading the word like we always have. First, don't make us work during the holidays to make things happen. Also, offer special pricing for at least the first year for existing customers. Also, more transparency on the pricing. I don't see a link to the plans available and explanation of each? Your pricing page isn't enough to know where we need to go next. Lastly, would you be so kind to offer a discount for non-profit organizations? Many of us need this to do some good in the world, and it would be nice for you to help support that. Thanks for your time. Please listen to us all. Don't make us go away looking for alternatives.
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I was recommended to Podio by a friend. I tried it and liked the app variety & functionality, so started using it as a test. With this new news, and even though I don't have near 500 "items" (thanks for the lack of definition in such a critical post by the way #sarcasm), for those who've asked in the comments, I recommend Basecamp - $99/month unlimited everything - forever. Been with them for 12 years & haven't looked back.
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I can only be agree with most of the comments: One month notice just before end of year vacation IS NOT one month notice; it is taken the loyal people/organisations that has make Podio popular and grow like hostages.
Of course, I and we in our NGO/organisation have really appreciated the possibility to use Podio as central communication and co-operation platform for free. Podio is a fantastic platform with a lot of very useful apps.
It has been developed based on open source approach, which has been part of our decision to use it. It has been open for free for non-profit organisations - like us. All that is an amazing approach in a world that suffer lack of democracy and bottom-up governance.
I can fully understand Citrix decision to optimize and ensure better services to the organisations who CAN pay for it, even though a more Social Corporate Responsibility could dictate to deliver the same services to them who can't afford for it. I can also understand that a company needs to make money...
But I can understand nor accept this marketing approach.
Right now, I do not know how we can ride off it. But even we could pay for Podio (which is not the case in 2019), this decision - both the short notice and the lack of consideration to the difference that exists among your users (small and big, social network and professional companies, profit and non-profit; just to name some of them) - will lead to our decision to move away...
I hope you Podio/Citrix will consider all the comments you receive and review your plans. Otherwise, I only wish you to experience what you create: a jam for us, users/"customers" who will spend Christmas and new year to find alternatives and migrate.
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@Mario:
1. All non-profit organisations that are grandfathered into a sponsored non-profit plan will not be affected by this change. Only people using the free version will be affected but we can offer non-profit discount and you can reach out to sales at https://podio.com/webforms/22006262/1540226 to have us check your account.
2. We are planning for a solution to help users easily check the app item count for their organisation in Podio before the item limit goes live. In the mean while, you can reach out to sales and they should be able to help you out with your current item count.
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I am on payd subscription so it doesnt involve me in the end, but for having said in the past 'For ever free', a limitation on items is defacto ending this and makes Podio a word breaker and an unreliable partner for business.
The timing, the message, the actions, all have the footptint of greed and short term profit. You get the clients that fit in that picture. Good luck.
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