Itarian Billing Model Change - 2022

General Announcements
1

Hi,

Wauw, Sadly you guys are faster in changing the billing models than in fixing or bringing working features. Again.

Today I received this:

[I]To all ITarian users:

In our continued effort to keep our platform competitive and a market leader, we are changing our billing model in terms of what is offered for free and what is paid for. Effective September 21, we will offer our Hosted Service Desk and Remote Control platform for Free for Unlimited Administrators.

RMM, Patch Management and MDM modules will now be charged per device (see pricing), including devices 1-50. If you only use ITarian to manage Comodo AV, you can continue to use it for free by removing all non-AV sections from your profiles assigned to devices. You can make this change anytime between 9/21– 10/21 without incurring any additional costs. We will provide directions on how to change your profile in mid-September.

Accordingly, if you intend to use the RMM, Patch Management and/or MDM functionality, you will now be charged on our monthly Post-Paid model for all devices which have profiles that contain these sections, meaning you will receive your first bill on October 21 for the period 9/21-10/21, based on your usage count at the end of period. Monthly bills will follow on the 21st of each month thereafter based on your usage that month.

You can reduce your cost by switching to our annual Pre-Paid model at any time within your User Interface (effectively pay for ten months up front and receive two months free). Alternatively, you can continue to use the Hosted Service Desk and Remote Control platforms for free by only assigning profiles that contain ITarian Basic sections

If you are already paying for ITarian End Point Manager, then this change of billing model will not impact you. We believe this will keep the ITarian platform relevant in terms of both functionality and stability, but understand that change is often difficult to adapt to. We firmly believe this change in billing model will benefit the ITarian user base over the long term.[/I]

From the beginning, all different modules and tools were glued together so everything could be managed from one portal.

Now it’s being seperated by cost.

I really can’t tell what will be billed now and what not.

RMM: is that only possibility to take over control a device?
And MDM? It only depends if you use a profile where this section is configured for?

I don’t like that I can not see whats is going to be billed now.

Can you guys make it clear in the product, in the management console and in the license page, what’s going to be billed?

For instance:
It says that the profiles containing some modules will be affected.
Can you point it out in the console by marking it that it’s a payed module? Like in the menus and different tabs?

A lot of changes, but not the changes we’re waiting for for years. Please focus on fixing all the misfeatures first.
And make clear what’s going to be billed.

Regards

1.png
1.png1440Ă—385 62.5 KB

1 Like
2

Hi ailan! I’ve only been using Itarian for about a year now, and your concerns resonate with me. I feel like the RMM really isn’t worth the $1.xx/device that the price model reflects, basically RMM is the monitoring/alerting features within Iterian. Which really aren’t great… Considering the lack of updates, and inconsistent patch notes, I dont see this move working out for the company. I figured it was good enough for a free model, but lacking some much needed features and communication to go fully paid. I hope this either allows Itarian to bring new features out, and offer better, consistent updates.

3

Dear all,

I would like to get all feedback on the pricing, missing features, outstanding issues and more.

Please be as honest as possible!

I hope you can all see over the last few months we have been more active and getting things planned and produced. I’m pleased to say we now have a Roadmap (rough) which I’m looking to hopefully share once things have been checked to see if possible within timescale.

Regards
Robin

4

Hi @RT-AMS-ITarian,

In short:
The monitoring/ alerting features are too mild:
not everything is logged and the info in the notifications are missing details.

Reporting functionality is not working and unreliable. Which are basic features that already should work flawless.

When looking into all the logs, different date notations in all the different reports.

On the forum I see that a lot more activities are promised, like all the former years.
But I still haven’t seen any improvements regarding all the basic and much-asked features.

For the already paying clients, these features should already be available. But on this level, it’s not worth paying extra.

5

Robin, Be honest.

The platform advertised here in the US as “free forever,” then 50 for free, and now this load of horse s&^t.

Where would one start?

  • Reports suck a$#. They are useless.
  • Chat function promise but never materialize
  • Monitoring/Alerts are inconsistent.
  • The platform should have a built-in reliable monitoring/alert system.
  • We should not have to have procedures written or run for many basic, necessary things.
Are you still in beta since the Comodo One days? --Yes

Does Robin have a magic wand or a golden ticket to Wonka land? No

Will you improve? No

Would we pay 1 cent for any device for any month? NO!!

We are closing our account as soon as possible. There have been too many years wasted, empty promises made, and ridiculous decisions made by Itarian.

Please save your chicanery for those who will drink the kool-aid.

6

So to clarify… even though we have purchased as recomended a Comodo AV licence for every one one the hundreds of endpoints we have on the system, at a cost of thousands a year, we’re now also going to be charged for the barely functional Itarian platform?

If this is the case, I’ll tell you what will happen… The few of us still supporting the platform will simply move to one of the (per tech) alternatives and find alternative security options.

You should at the very least honour existing licences on the payment model agreed at time of purchase. I’m truly disgusted that you’ve dropped this on us at almost zero notice.

7

Agree: "You should at the very least honour existing licences on the payment model agreed at time of purchase. "

1 Like
8

Hi all

My point of view just honest upfront - I actually don’t mind paying for services, as long as they work, have developments, address user requirements and so forth.
We use and recommend Office365, clients are happy to pay, they also pay for 365 backups if not done in house, they pay for Comodo security and I pass on the RMM fees, so not a issue about costs as much as proposed changes and increased charges when the platform is not up to scratch the way it could or should be.

There are enough free/open source tools, you can self host or spin up a VPS and you can run your own system pretty much the same functions, I have NO interest in wasting my time when there are smarter options at fair pricing, per tech (cheap) or per endoints often under US$2 inc AV.

Itarian over the last few years has almost teased us with - coming soon, on the roadmap, tell us what you want, we have teamed up with xyz, etc.
There has not been any real major updates or upgraded services in years.

I do like the system in general, once you get used to the old style menus, needing to import or create procedures, working out what does not work, what does eg 3rd party patching but not installing, everything almost needs work arounds via scripts or another product. change/edit a procedure in a profile and without asking all endpoints suddenly get updated, but create a new one and get the option.

It was nice when free, able to install a rmm for adhock clients, when the 50 limit was applied, in hindsight I thought that was fair (should have been applied for new users - existing users should have been kept as is on the quantity they had)

So then I tried to use it for my contract clients, not as smooth as it should be.

Itairian is just one of a few systems that I’ve been using, and with my current plan it’s fairly economical, paying for the AV for all machines, but only installing on about 75% of systems - the other 25% are just for the rmm side.

I have a few hundred endpoints on Itarian, so the rmm only systems would in fact be cheaper with one of the per tech offerings, one of those is syncro with almost 1000 endpoints that I do use.

Syncro and Splastop intergration mostly just works, including mobile apps and the ability to use from and to mobiles, same as anydesk as my backup remote.
We pay for a different AV seperatly, and manage from the AV portal.

The Itarian platform can be hard to use at times, scripts can be a bit hit and miss, reports I don’t even bother producing anymore.
Remote that should be able auto reconnect on reboot/restarts, large file transfers.
The service desk v2, I personally cannot use or use the way I need, cannot see how to bulk clear tickets etc.
The alerts system is bad, sure we get an alert/email but cannot react direct or quickly unless on a pc/portal, many security alerts I cannot even find when logging into the portal, often just delete the email and move on, many alerts are repeats that I cannot find how to mark as done/ignore/follow up.

I was looking for a client request the last time I did some remote work, it is not viewable when selecting the device but is buried in the audit logs once you remember to use filters - that also need to be closed once selected and took over 10 mins to find, other rmm’s have this and other “software installed/updated/events/audits/notices” listed under recent activity.

I’m really on the fence with the platform, I want it to work with me and for my clients, saving time, energy and effort longer term, but I cannot commit fully as it currently is.
I’d like to be able to automate as much as possible, use for my billing and full service desk, crm - but again not willing to chuck out what is working with other products.

The CSS/AV while at times can be over zelous with containments NO endpoint or server has been infected.
Speaking about containments, why is it so hard and not easy to whitlist or simply mark a file or process as safe, this alone would save many endusers contacting me who just want to install a program or update, I then need to disable or turn off while installing.

Its late where I’m located, I may review and add extra comments once I think about how or why I use the platform, or why I keep many endpionts with others.

A spell checker on the forum would be handy, I always mess up when multitasking - tonight server upgrades and this post in between.

mcfproservices

1 Like
9

Thank you all so far for your feedback.

I can assure you that nothing has fallen on deaf ears, myself and other managers have seen this and will take all information back to the table and discuss.

10

I just thank god I never put all my eggs in the Itarian basket and still have a per tech account with Syncro (which on the new payment model now actually works out vastly cheaper than Itarian)… I’ll have to stomach the additional costs for now… but as each licence becomes due, they will be moved. This is at least the third payment model change in as many years. I’ve totally lost faith.

1 Like
11

It does allow one click of trusting a file.

Did you have something else in mind?

one click marking of safe files.png
one click marking of safe files.png1889Ă—819 151 KB

12

Here we go again.

I said this last time you pulled the switcharoo that you should grandfather existing clients, and you should do the same here. You are advertising 1 thing and that is now changing at the detriment of your clients. Honour your 50 free and anyone new gets the new format. Its very simple. Unfortunately that will also change behind the scenes just like it did with me from the free forever, you honoured it then I get an invoice out the blue after 12months and there’s nothing you can do…

So does the remote access only get affected here as its not clear as you have things bundled in together? My devices are just registered for remote access… will I be charged now?

13

To reduce confusion please let me explain what the new update will be doing, and this is not just a billing thing.

The way profiles will be constructed will be different. Instead of having a button at the top to “add section”, there will be a tab next to the general tab called “configuration”.

This new configuration tab will have listed all the available licenses down the side. Clicking on the license will give you a list of the tabbed sections for that license.Once selected the tabs will appear as normal, and yes you can mix and match tabs from different licenses in one profile.

The list of licenses will tell you if they are free or paid, so there is no confusion on what is what which has always been an issue in the past.

The idea is that if you have a device that contains any settings from a paid license you need that license for that device. By doing this you have maximum control over you device estate and costs.

The other beautiful thing is that having this layout means we can add other licenses to profiles, say another antivirus product, filtering tool and more.

The licenses we have designed so far are:

  • ITarian Basic - - free
    • Portal (PSA)
    • Service Desk (SD)
    • Remote Control (RC)
  • ITarian Device
    • Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)
    • Remote Tools (RT)
  • ITarian Mobile
    • Mobile Device Management (MDM)
On top of ITarian's products we also have Xcitium Client Security (XCS) that will be configured on this way.

Hopefully you can see that we have designed a clear and easy to manage system for you to know exactly what is what.

Please note I have not listed pricing as this is now being taken back for discussion as promised.

But please be aware that we have at the moment given everyone 30 days notice, and that bills will not get affected for another 30 days after that (total of 60 days) to alter licenses as needed.

One of the things I have brought to this platform as part of joining is notice periods for updates / releases, as well as the notice for these changes. I believe we should give our users as much information and notice as we can, and I’ll be pushing to do more!

Regards
Robin

1 Like
14

Hi @RT-AMS-ITarian,

The setup and change of config looks good.
But the discussion is mainly about the communication towards your vast existing clients.

It is being sketched as if we have to be very thankful that on short notice we have a grace period of 30 + 30 days.

As a fully payed client, I, personally, don’t mind the 50 free clients. That’s a thing from the past.
But what I do mind is that a lot of energy is put in billing changes, and all the promises, and that we still haven’t seen any improvements.

Fix all the modules first. Put the energy in there.
At this moment a lot of the basics are not like they should.

You can compare the prices and point to other platforms, but I think that most are way ahead regarding the basics.

I give you an example:
The only thing I use on the platform is: managing the antivirus and remote control.

In practice that means:

  • The antivirus component is unmanageable and very hard to manage, troubleshoot.
  • In case of a detection, very hard to find the info and too much actions needed to take action.
  • If I want a report about the detected threats for a period, that report isn’t working or unreliable.

So those (three) basic things aren’t working after years.
These are basic and fundamental features that should work flawless out of the box. No beta or advanced for that.

I do have workarounds and think it can be better and easier.

Hope you see my point.
Focus please on the basics. Now this platform can’t be compared to others.

#MIG

Regards.

15

Please PM me your costing for Synchro and what your ITarian new costs would be so this can be added to our analysis.

It’s quite simple… Based on your new pricing model… 250 endpoints will cost almost 300 per month. (Plus the commitment already to the CCS which it appears now means squat!)

Syncro for unlimited number of endpoints is 119 per month for a vastly superior product.
Atera for the same number of endpoints is 99 per month.
I could go on…

However I look at this, the pricing for Itarian is now WAY off. Whoever came up with this model clearly gave it very little real world commercial consideration.

1 Like
16

Hopefully you will see from my signature that I’m the product manager here at ITarian, but also an owner of an MSP which has over 1000 endpoints. This business of mine is run fully on ITarian, and I know the pain you have raised here,

Robin… So if you have over 1000 endpoints, Do you truly believe that over one thousand pounds per month for the Itarian platform is good value when better alternatives are a tenth of that price??

As said previously, this pricing model is ill-considered and idiotic.

1 Like
17

Hi @Ed_Johnson

I would love to answer you on this; but as you can imaging that is a conflict of interests. But please believe me when I say I’m fighting this for the community.

Regards
Robin

1 Like
18

Good day i know my opinion won`t matter, but for me you are shooting your foot , with this new policie , and there will be many leaving this platform , i ´m one of them , for me it won´t be a probem anyway, have a great day!

19

Robin, I was so glad to read the email concerning your Billing Model Change. It provides me with opportunity to close our account. You guys are not ready for prime-time, let alone ready to be charging $1.25 per device. So many promises, so few solutions. Good luck and good riddance.

1 Like
20

Do Itarian not realise you can pay for vastly superior products with all the things we’ve been asking for for years… Messaging/chat… Great android apps. Screen preview of endpoint before connecting… and much much more… with unlimited number of endpoints for just 100 per month… Itarians new pricing model is utter madness for the product on offer.

2 Likes