Pro Tools Subscription vs Perpetual Licenses

Update as of September 21 2023. Perpetual Licenses are back!!
Reach out to your favorite Avid Pro Tools reseller for pricing info and availability! They are NOT available on the Avid website.

The Pro Tools Perpetual license Reinstatements are back!!
If you have have an existing Perpetual license with an expired Annual Support plan, previously your only option to get current was to go to a Pro Tools subscription. Now you can reinstate your Annual Support Plan and keep your Perpetual license. These are available through Avid Resellers.
Unfortunately, Avid does not appear to be selling new Perpetual licenses...

And, WTH is the difference between a Pro Tools Perpetual license and a Subscription?

[TheSpartan_G]

Few key things to know for those in the comments that are confused:
Perpetual means you own the license forever. Perpetual literally means "never ending." Avid has not changed this. As it is, a Pro Tools perpetual license will never be taken away simply because the support plan for it expires. I believe they did allow you to surrender your perpetual license in order to get a discount as incentive for perpetual owners to switch to the subscription model. But technically you were surrendering it in exchange for something. They can't just take it away unless you give it to them like in that instance.

The subscription to the support plan for a perpetual license worked by allowing you to keep updating your perpetual license to the latest one that had been released within the window of time that your support plan was active. It did NOT mean that your perpetual license would expire if the support plan was not renewed. It just meant you would no longer be able to keep Pro Tools updated as newer versions came out. If you originally bought it on version 10, and then kept the update plan for a while, and then let it expire the day after 12.6 was released, you would be able to use 12.6 forever theoretically, assuming you didn't upgrade your computer and other components so far that 12.6 just wasn't compatible anymore.

People are misunderstanding what's happening with this. IF you have a perpetual license that you've been hanging onto for a few years that you have refused to give up throughout this whole subscription-only disaster that Avid has been running, there were no options to become current with your Pro Tools version if you had let your annual support plan lapse, unless you surrendered your perpetual license in favour of the new Subscription service.

Before the subscription ever existed, if you had a perpetual license, but the support plan had expired, you could still get it back. It would just cost more because you were basically buying Pro Tools again. If you renewed it before it ever expired, you would pay a little less to do so, and would maintain the ability to update to the latest versions, WHILE STILL OWNING PRO TOOLS. This wasn't a subscription to the license. It was a subscription to the support plan, which allowed you to keep your perpetual license up-to-date.

If you had a perpetual license and you never let the support plan run out/you kept paying it annually, you could continue to update to the latest version while still owning Pro Tools, just like normal, even through the subscription bs. However, when they took away the ability to purchase a perpetual license, that also took away the ability to 'renew' the support plan for existing perpetual licenses IF you had let it expire, since in order to 'renew', you had to buy Pro Tools again (that's been the same ever since I started using PT in 2015, and probably for long before that), but you physically couldn't do that anymore because you couldn't buy a perpetual license, therefore unless you had maintained your update plan for your perpetual license you were stuck with what you had.

The reinstatements are for those people. It's basically allowing you to re-purchase the support plan for your existing perpetual license. It is not a new perpetual license.
To be honest, I'm fine with a subscription model for certain stuff. I have some plugin subscriptions and they're great value. But for my DAW I will absolutely not use a sub. If I lose a plugin for a while due to a technical issue or whatever, I can continue on. If I lose my DAW I literally can't do anything. And who knows where avid will be in a couple years? I'm still on 12.6 and I'm just NOW thinking about re-upping through a support reinstatement while it's available due to some of the big features that have been added over the years.

[smop]

I used to get really frustrated over this when Pro Tools was my main DAW. Now, I typically only use it when I have a film project, so I’m glad to have the monthly option.

[cornbobrimlove]

Jon. Avid does not offer a "perpetual license" option to buy out usual, the typical Avid used Pro Tools for 24 years and I'm just about to throw in the towel and move on over to Logic Pro!

[leftside]

Why is my monthly subscription being renewed twice for the month. On the 9th and the 23rd of the month?

[sherwinbooysen]

Great i am glad they brought it back i cnt deal with paying each month or year

[sin_phany_tv]

What’s crazy that you didn’t mention is that you don’t keep the avid complete plug-ins after your perpetual expires, like the pro dynamic multi comp, other inst and many others that I can’t think in the top 😞 so if you don’t have the intention of renewing you better have 3rd party plug-ins to mix like Waves, Fab filter, even tide, sound toys, ! Just saying

[leolachini]

PERFECT! Best explanation ever. Thanks a lot!

[DamienTheCat]

Studio One looking better all the time

[eusebiochivocortes]

WHAT CAPACITY IN TERMS OF RAM MEMORY DO I NEED TO GET PROTOOLS ULTIMATE?

[eusebiochivocortes]

I GOT A MAC PRO (LATE 2012), PROCESSOR 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5, Memory 12 GB 1866 MHz DDR3, Graphics AMD FirePro D 300 2 GB.

[gowoke_gobroke]

The latest update last month (March) is essential for anyone who bought a new silicon Mac. 
I am not certain however of the status of 3rd party AAX plugins only aligned for Intel - if anyone knows please advise if it kicks the latest upgrade into Rosetta if you're using intel plugins.

[MannuelSantiago]

So basically If I don't have a previous version of Pro Tools and I buy on sweetwater this promo of Avid Pro Tools Studio Perpetual License Upgrade (Reinstates Updates and Support for 1 Year) I will lose my money ? cause this is just for people who has previous versions of PT ??? I'm so confused about it cause I wanna get Pro Tools perpetual but this I think is just paying for the updates, or will I get access to the program as If I buy this for the first time ?? Please help

[chickaboomboom]

More and more people are running to cubase, studio one or back to logic pro. I'm glad I switched to cubase

[buschovski]

Avids site says otherwise. If you wanted to buy it for the first time. Theres no option

[BIIZZxGaming]

If my school purchased an annual subscription through avid’s website, but I’d like to upgrade that subscription to a perpetual license. Is there a way I could do so through a third party reseller?

[eusebiochivocortes]

HELLO, THIS IS MR CORTEZ, I AM TRYING TO USE A VERSION THAT ALLOWS ME TO RECORD AND EDIT IN A PROFESSIONAL LEVEL. WHICH VERSION DO YOU RECOMMEND I SHOULD GET?, AND HOW DO I GET THE PERPETUAL MODE WITH AUTO RENEWAL PROGRAM. THANKS A LOT !!! OK, AUTO RENEW BUTTON, GOT THAT.

[owens]

I tried Pro Tools for the first time last year, giving it a chance after using Logic and Live for a while (and still use them). However, I was disappointed to find that I had to go through a reseller to renew my subscription. When I subscribed to one year of Studio in 2022, I paid \$199. When I went to renew my subscription, I couldn't do it anywhere directly—I was routed to a reseller! I discovered that the annual subscription had gone up to \$299 for Studio, and I had to go through my reseller. This is a convoluted and frustrating practice that seems designed to marginalize customers and make us pay more by forcing third parties into the equation (in this case, Sweetwater Sound). I'm grateful that I don't have ten years of projects that have been created in Pro Tools, as this seems like a very convoluted licensing workflow that I would hate to be cornered into.

[ABS_AD]

Are the ProTools Perpetual sales on Avid website active? Couldn’t find one when I checked.

[silkroad]

I can't find a perpetual license anywhere. Everything I find says they only do subscriptions now

[eves_disrhythms]

So... its cheaper and probably just better to subscribe then