Upgrade policy

[meow]

Hello!

iMatch is at the top of the list of the programs I contemplate. But as an amateur and a pauper the cost makes me hesitate. I would probably not use all the features of the program or its full capacity. But it's really hard to find something that's "good enough".

I read the cost for upgrading is reasonable. I wonder if you can give me a more clear picture of that, what percentage of the full price an upgrade is. Also, is the rebate only available if one upgrades from the last version before the new one or is it possible to skip a version and still get a rebate?

Sorry if I come off as cheap, but I'm afraid it's out of necessity. Please don't take it the wrong way.

[Mario]

You see your personal discount and coupon code when you log into the customer portal.

You are not forced to upgrade.
Your current IMatch version will continue working as before. Unless there is a breaking change in Windows, or changes in 3rd party services used for reverse geocoding, the Map Panel or similar, IMatch 2023 will be working as before. Heck, there are still many IMatch 3 (!) users around.

I release major (paid) upgrades every 12 to 18 months. This is how long your discount upgrade will remain valid.
The last paid upgrade was in June 2023 and all IMatch updates since then were free. 

The paid upgrades allow me to continue working on IMatch, supporting it, cover the cost for hardware, software and licenses I need. Or pay for the server we are currently using.

[maxbelloni]

Hello!
iMatch is at the top of the list of the programs I contemplate. But as an amateur and a pauper the cost makes me hesitate. I would probably not use all the features of the program or its full capacity. But it's really hard to find something that's "good enough".

I think that very few (if not nobody) uses ALL the features iMatch can provide.
 
The important thing (IMHO) are not the features you don't need, but that the ones it has are as close as possible to the features you need (perfection rarely exists...)

Maxbelloni

[Mario]

I think that very few (if not nobody) uses ALL the features iMatch can provide.

In my estimate, most users use maybe 50% of IMatch. But each user uses different 50%

[meow]

Hi again. I have to apologize for not getting back before. Some real life issues happened that have kept me from computers and the internet.

Thank you for your answers. I'll run the trial soon. I've waited with that until I have time to truly try to learn the basics and see if the program fits me. I know one thing I like already. That iMatch doesn't touch my disk files and try to reorganize them. I hate when programs do that.

The runner up would be Photo Supreme. The price is basically the same, but from reading the specs iMatch seems to be the more competent program.

I should have said from start, I only need the program for organizing and finding my photos. The other file types I need to find easily I already have working routines for.

@Mario I hope you didn't take my question wrong. I didn't mean to complain about the price. I just wanted to get a feel for what I'm signing up for when it comes to future costs.

[Mario]

@Mario I hope you didn't take my question wrong. I didn't mean to complain about the price. I just wanted to get a feel for what I'm signing up for when it comes to future costs.

I didn't.

I think IMatch is priced very fairly for what you get. Capterra lists over 400 DAM systems in their overview. Evaluating what's available and what fits your budget is always a good idea. There is more than IMatch, Photo Supreme or the free alternative Digikam.

IMatch is a product for demanding users which require top of the class metadata handling, reliability, feature completeness, performance even for large collections, excellent documentation and support. It's also developed and evolved in close relation with its users, which is not that common anymore these days.

If you find something that matches your needs and budget better, go for it. Whatever works for you is good!

[Stenis]

Objectively speaking I have to agree with Mario. iMatch is very reasonably priced compared to most alternatives. It is a very powerful and sophisticated tools with a modern and pretty polished user interface too. ... and it is pretty effective too compared to other alternatives. I didn´t really migrate from PhotoMechanic to iMatch because the price. I did it because of the performance differences. I have found that I´m just far more productive with iMatch. IMatch is also a far more moderna and future secured program I think since it is far more in synch with XMP than PM Plus and many other softwares are used to manage metadata. Still many RAW-converters for example is still relying on IPTC and that is the case even for PhotoMechanic.

When comparing the price differences for a perpetual license between iMatch and Camera Bits PhotoMechanic Plus the price for PhotoMechanic is 5229 SEK compared to the 1763 SEK. PM Plus is more than three times more expensive than iMatch.

No software is best for everything and even I am also using the "free" software XnView - especially to get a good and quick overview of all the metadata written in or tied to each picture by a sidecar XMP. So Meow, you might give that a glance as well. The well known Carl Siebert once called it something like "a smaller PhotoMechanic". If you just want something to display and handle your pictures with it might be Ok for you even if it is way more ineffective when it comes to IPTC-metadata management. ... and if you after all feel XnView isn´t optimal either, you will always be able to migrate to iMatch later. I like them both a lot and they work very good together since they both are able to use the same metadata seemlessly.

https://www.xnview.com/en/xnview/

XnView is also a very powerful file format converter

[Mario]

Thank you for sharing your insights.