Nuke to go subscription-only
Foundry is to make the entire Nuke product family – Nuke, NukeX, Nuke Studio, Hiero, HieroPlayer and Nuke Render – available subscription-only.
The firm has already stopped sales of perpetual licences to new customers, although new perpetual licences of the software will be available to existing customers until 31 December 2023.
The firm has also introduced new annual subscription plans for the Nuke products.
The last of Foundry’s major products to go subscription-only
Nuke is the last of Foundry’s major products for which perpetual licences are still available, the firm having recently discontinued new perpetual licences of Mari, Modo and Katana.
That changes on 31 December 2023, when the firm will stop selling new perpetual licences of the Nuke products to existing users. Foundry has already discontinued sales of perpetual licences to new customers.
The change applies to the entire Nuke product family, including compositing software Nuke and NukeX, compositing and editorial software Nuke Studio, and editorial timeline Hiero.
Nuke Indie, the low-cost edition of Nuke for freelancers, was already subscription-only, as was shot review tool Hiero Player.
New annual subscription pricing for Nuke, NukeX, Nuke Studio, Nuke Render and Hiero
Foundry has also introduced new annual subscriptions for the Nuke products alongside its existing quarterly rental plans. On subscription, Nuke costs $3,299/year, NukeX $4,499/yr and Nuke Studio $5,499/year.
Annual subscriptions to NukeX and Nuke Studio include two licences of Nuke Render, the headless edition of the software for use on render farms, with extra licences priced at $399/year.
Annual subscriptions to Hiero cost $1,999/year.
Lower initial cost, but higher lifetime cost of ownership for many users
Foundry describes subscriptions as providing customers with “a more flexible way to purchase, with a lower initial cost”.
However, for users who wouldn’t otherwise buy each annual upgrade, subscriptions increase the total lifetime cost of software: the cost of one year’s subscription to Nuke is over half that of a perpetual licence.
Price and system requirements
Nuke, NukeX and Nuke Studio are available for Windows 10+, CentOS 7.4-7.6 Linux, and macOS 11+.
Perpetual licences of Nuke now cost $5,968. NukeX costs $10,788 and Nuke Studio costs $12,478. Annual subscriptions cost $3,299/year for Nuke, $4,499/yr for NukeX and $5,499/year for Nuke Studio.
Find more details of the new pricing for the Nuke product family on Foundry’s website