Hi all,
Thanks all for the positive feedback on this feature. I wanted to address some of the recent replies about how this feature is only available to legacy plans.
For context and history about the current legacy plan situation, I’ll refer you all to this thread started by Josh after the pricing updates from August last year: Pricing updates and thoughts. To reiterate one of his statements:
“we care a LOT about not throwing you under the bus. We completely understand that people are betting their passions on us, and that you are relying on an implicit promise from us to do the right thing to let you continue to be successful.”
We as a company are constantly working to improve the platform in many different ways. One of the ways is with new features that allow more expressivity and power for app creators. Some of these features are rolled out to all plans, including legacy and the Hobby tier - recent features in this category include option sets and the ability to upload large files. We do this when, for example, we feel that a feature is widely applicable to many different kinds of apps, such that any app user, from those just starting off to mature production apps, can benefit.
With other features we choose to place them in a specific paid tier - database change triggers here are an example, as well as the recent Algolia search integration. We feel that features like these give extra oomph to certain users who are generally farther along in their app development process; for example, a person building a prototype on the Hobby tier probably doesn’t yet need the power of Algolia-backed searches. We think hard about the tier that new features are offered in, to see if it makes sense for the value and messaging offered by each tier.
So why did we make a decision to offer new paid features only on the current plans and not legacy? The legacy tiers were created out of a desire to not leave behind anybody who may have bet their project or business on Bubble. If the difference in prices between the legacy and new version of a tier makes a meaningful difference to the economics of your project, we didn’t want to force you to upgrade or be shut out - you can continue on the legacy plan you had before. And after hearing the feedback from the userbase, Bubble decided to give a 2 year period when apps on legacy plans could switch to other legacy tiers - apps on legacy plans will not be left behind, and hopefully by the end of the 2 year period, you’ll know which plan (legacy or otherwise) is suitable for your app’s needs going forward.
Apps on legacy plans are getting the features and improvements that roll out to everybody. However, we feel that since we’re investing in the platform by building new powerful features for users who are further along in their Bubble journey, it is reasonable for us to share in the value that these features bring. If it is important for your app to stay on a legacy plan - please do so. Our hope is to continuously improve the offerings of the current plans such that it’s an obvious decision to switch to a current plan given how much added value the new features provide.
We certainly value our existing users - continuing to empower them and help them grow is a huge part of our daily motivation. As Bubble continues growing and improving, we hope that all our users will continue growing and thriving as well.