Official comment

Hi All,
Thanks for all your feedback and expressing your concerns. The fact that we have all of you posting your thoughts on this forum proves that you are active users of Podio and we are glad that we have been delivering value to you. We definitely do not want to lose our customer focus and lose you all, our valuable customers associated with us for years now. But at the same time, we believe if one is really deriving value out of a tool, they would not mind paying for it, and hence, this decision of ours.
Please find below our response to the FAQs and concerns posted so far:
Is this too short a notice for pricing change?
30 days is our standard notice period for pricing changes for existing customers and that is what we have followed here. I acknowledge your concern regarding the holidays and that is the reason why we are planning to push this Live to existing customers (especially the ones with high item count) only in late January so that you all get enough time, close to a month post-Christmas to make the necessary arrangements.
In addition, even after the limit is Live, you get 30 more days in edit-only mode for you to view data, take data back-up or delete data to go below the 500 count in case you do not want to upgrade to a paid version. So in total we are providing a minimum of 60 days’ notice before you lose access to your data online.
What are we referring to as an item for the 500 limit?
As rightly pointed out by some of you, only an item entry into an app contributes to the 500 limit calculation. Tasks created or attachments added to an item do not count as separate item entries. Calendar entries on the other hand could contribute to the item count as they result because of items entries made in calendar/meeting apps. ‘Item’ is an intricate terminology for Podio and hence we did not elaborate on it earlier. Find out more about what is an item here.
How to get your org’s current item count?
We are working on a solution to help users easily check the app item count for their organisation in Podio. We expect this to be released before the item limit goes live for our existing customers. You can reach out to our sales team https://podio.com/webforms/22006262/1540226 - and we are able to help share your current item count, so as to help you plan your further course of action in the upgrade process.
Will the item limit be applicable on non-profit organisations?
No, 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 for you to upgrade to a paid plan on a good discounted rate.
Please reach out to our sales team at https://podio.com/webforms/22006262/1540226 to have us check your account details and let you know if this change affects you in any way.
Thank you for your feedback and support!