So... AIT is going to be extra now?

2

Comments

  • tanderson
    tanderson Member Posts: 279 ✭✭✭✭

    So CoPilot is $4.50 per endpoint per month if you sign up "soon" and $9 after that. This is crazy at 150 endpoints thats $1350 a month. @gilgi will Atera roll these changes back if no one signs up?

  • tanderson
    tanderson Member Posts: 279 ✭✭✭✭

    That is 5.4 tech licenses a month if you are on the power plan at $249/M and have 150 endpoints.

  • tanderson
    tanderson Member Posts: 279 ✭✭✭✭

    A team workspace with GPT directly costs $25/person/month. I can't see the justification for spending this much money just so you can use GPT directly in Atera with its own "tailored flavor" when you can already tailor GPT to your needs directly with them.

  • rob
    rob Member Posts: 9

    $4.50 per endpoint? That kind of goes against the model and fabric of Atera. We have 500 endpoints, 1 tech. So we would be paying $2250 per mo for the ability to "work easier" Not a fan of that model.

  • mbudke
    mbudke Member Posts: 137 ✭✭✭

    I am still waiting for more than a week now to get an offer but till yet just … silence …

    I hope 4,50$ / endpoint / month is just a joke to see reactions ;-)
    I am not even talking about 9,00$ ^^

  • AlexYoungNSM
    AlexYoungNSM Member Posts: 21 ✭✭

    I just can't justify the cost of it, i can ask ChatGPT anything and i get a fully working script or have it help me troubleshoot an issue. Our customers won't talk to an AI Agent, i think it will just frustrate them as some users just don't explain the problem correctly so it's our job to try and interpret what they are asking.

    Similar to Network Discovery which has never worked, I've done so many trials and I've always got to fix something myself to make it work.

    You can see my frustration, we want to have the basics working first of the helpdesk - we don't even have the ability to use the API to talk to the software inventory, i just think the AI craze is not something we need to be prioritising and i get it you are getting alot of investment from Microsoft for the AI side but please can we focus on the core element of the product and not all these bolt-ons which are going to keep increasing costs.

  • gilgi
    gilgi Administrator, Moderator, Internal Posts: 313 admin

    Heya,

    I want to add some background and context to the pricing discussion.
    Atera saw the potential of AI and invested from 2022 in terms of R&D, and the costs of the subscription and operation. Over the last year, we provided the features freely despite their rising costs as more users adopted it into their IT-workflows.

    The natural progression from a business standpoint was to eventually reflect this cost in pricing as we achieved product maturity.At this stage - for our customers - we are offering the early bird rate, which reflects a 50% discount for Copilot addon, to secure a favorable price and take advantage of this game-changing technology.
    We have already received feedback from customers that they see value and merit in Copilot.
    If you'd like to receive further insights into newly added capabilities & impact, I am more than happy to connect you with one of my team members! 

  • tanderson
    tanderson Member Posts: 279 ✭✭✭✭

    We hear you, and we appreciate that you are the liaison between the community and Atera, but $4.50 or $9 per endpoint per month is insane for these features. At 150 endpoints, why would we spend $675 or $1350, depending on early bird pricing, for things that take one person 5 minutes to do? Does Atera really think not having to reset a password for an end user is worth $1350 a month? I understand the feature set will grow, but right now, it's crazy overpriced.

  • gilgi
    gilgi Administrator, Moderator, Internal Posts: 313 admin

    While we're on the topic of end-point pricing -
    This model allows you to set Copilot per customer/site, meaning you can apply it to customers where the value you get is greatest and expand where applicable for your business needs.
    There is a min. of end-points and the nitty-gritty can be discussed in further detail with a CSM, if you need any help with that, I'd be happy to connect.

  • mbudke
    mbudke Member Posts: 137 ✭✭✭

    What is the normal time a CSM should get back to us?
    I did request an offer around 2 weeks ago with no reply at all..

    I also have 2 questions:
    1) do you plan to provide a price per technician in future?
    2) do you already have pricing for the auto-pilot in discussion? I was about to test this with a few customer to get their feedback but the prices which I heard for co-pilot already made the decision. Just wondering if the same applies to auto-pilot.

  • gilgi
    gilgi Administrator, Moderator, Internal Posts: 313 admin


    There is a waiting list atm, our CSMs are running a lot of discussions, but I am pinging your details to make sure you're contacted. 🙏

    1) Currently not planned.
    2)That's a separate feature set.

  • iectechbrian
    iectechbrian Member Posts: 157 ✭✭✭✭

    An idea that may solve some of these headaches:

    What if there were 2 parts of Copilot, one that is only the "backend" that supports just the technicians, with no capability to be used on endpoints (thus keeping the advertised "revolutionary" pay-per-technician pricing) and an separate one for the end points?

    The people who only need it on the technician side can keep their companies happy while keeping AIT, and those who need the endpoint access can get it too.

  • mbudke
    mbudke Member Posts: 137 ✭✭✭

    Thank you!
    In regards to 2): Do you already have some info what/ how the pricing will work?

  • mjones
    mjones Member Posts: 185 ✭✭✭✭

    There are, Copilot and Autopilot.
    @gilgi please correct me if I am wrong.

    They haven't released pricing on the "Autopilot" option yet.

  • gilgi
    gilgi Administrator, Moderator, Internal Posts: 313 admin
  • iectechbrian
    iectechbrian Member Posts: 157 ✭✭✭✭

    I would be very interested in just getting the technician only one! Any estimate on when we can expect pricing to be announced? I also sincerely hope that it is not annual only.

  • gilgi
    gilgi Administrator, Moderator, Internal Posts: 313 admin

    It's still in beta phase with no date set, but when that changes I will communicate it better than Copilot, lessons learned!

  • iectechbrian
    iectechbrian Member Posts: 157 ✭✭✭✭
    edited June 19

    Monthly Subscription would be a "legal" issue.

    In trying to talk pricing and options with my sales rep I was told that "Due to certain legal restrictions, the AI add-on is currently only available for customers with an annual subscription." I asked in reply "What are those legal restrictions exactly?"

    It then took 7 more emails and replies to get that it isn't really a legal issue. Rather it is, in the rep's response: "an administrative decision to only offer annual contracts and since we don’t offer monthly contracts we cannot offer the additional document to monthly users."

    So, the restriction to annual only was purely an, "administrative decision." Therefore, it would only take a new "administrative decision" to offer the "contract" (AIT) to monthly users.

    So my question is: WHY not? Why try to force it? Why not stand behind the year of advertising and let AIT be available to all users, even at an extra fee, regardless of subscription length?

  • tanderson
    tanderson Member Posts: 279 ✭✭✭✭

    @iectechbrian I have no knowledge of Atera and the Administration's inner workings, but I can imagine the idea behind a yearly contract for these features is that the Administration knows the product does not have a lot of functionality yet. I assume they do not want a bunch of people to get on board, realize this is functionally useless right now, and then bail and probably not come back to it.

    They may have some features coming soon that would be released within the year contract and improve the feature set. In my conversations with Atera development in the past few months, they told me that no new features will be developed unless AI is developed hand in hand with that feature. This way, they don't have to go back and redevelop the feature.

    As of today, no one at Atera has responded to my question of " Will all the new features on the roadmap be a paid extra as well?" To me, this seems like the case. If AI is a paid feature and all new features are developed with AI, then I would assume all new features will be locked behind a new paywall.

    Also, I think they are starting to feel the burn of their decisions with clients leaving and want to lock them into a year subscription. I have spoken to many individuals on the community page, LinkedIn, and Reddit, and the overwhelming conversation is, "We are looking for a new product."

    I hope I am wrong about the paywall stuff and the way the administration is thinking, and hopefully, someone can explain to me why I am wrong.

  • iectechbrian
    iectechbrian Member Posts: 157 ✭✭✭✭

    It does seem that this decision has really burned a lot of people. We had narrowed down to Atera or NinjaOne. The Pay-per-Technician pricing and AIT were the deciding factors for my company. But now we can't have AIT without being locked in and without virtually eliminating the Pay-per-Technician promise. It has dramatically soured my company on Atera.

  • gilgi
    gilgi Administrator, Moderator, Internal Posts: 313 admin

    The scale and management of this require far more complex operations. From a business standpoint, AI enablement and usage is entirely different than previous models.
    I'm not sure of the legal issues here, but indeed there are operational limitations on the Atera side. This is why the add-on is only available to subscribers who have opted for an annual subscription.
    We know, it's a bummer for those who prefer a monthly plan, but trust us, we're working hard to make it available to everyone in the future.

  • iectechbrian
    iectechbrian Member Posts: 157 ✭✭✭✭

    How would it be any different from AIT being in everyone's 'toolboxes' right now?

    Also, is that future in the flying-cars future, or in a few months future? This whole thing is being viewed as a debacle or AIT-gate (watergate) type issue by my company's administration and owners. It doesn't seem that the Atera administration is realizing just how horrible of a PR nightmare all of this is for them.

  • gilgi
    gilgi Administrator, Moderator, Internal Posts: 313 admin

    Currently it's open for all. After the ending of the exploration period that will no longer be the case, so in that regards it's different operations.
    I'll ask for a more relevant timeframe, but these things are usually looked at in the quarterly plannings and not in the day2day discussions, so I might have to get back to you later for this specific. 🙏

  • martin.strutinski
    martin.strutinski Member Posts: 3
    edited June 25

    That is exatly what we should not do.
    Pricing must be clear to everyone. We should not contact sales for that.

    With hidden pricing smaller teams always get hit harder.

    I honestly can not see any benefit if pricing is not transparent, has no monthly option and costs more than 15-20 €/$ per month for monthly option.

    E: I would ask atera really consider their stance on AI pricing and Features in awe and shock of plunders adobe and other industry software/gaming have done. Atera currently is stepping same road.

  • tanderson
    tanderson Member Posts: 279 ✭✭✭✭

    @martin.fdi I suspect people will talk with their wallets.

  • martin.strutinski
    martin.strutinski Member Posts: 3

    Wait. Pricing is per endpoint. I cared to look trough while topic today.
    Clients won't pay extra for us so we could do our job easier.
    That is pretty much idiotic.

    I would not pay more than 1.5-2 € per endpoint if it was calculated like that.
    I rather write api between atera and chatgpt or claude and pay way less…
    This seems like daytime robbery.

    Justifying to client 4.5 or even 9 extra for devices won't mostly fly for smaller MSPs who have clients who are itself small to mid size companies.

  • BEKAHENI
    BEKAHENI Member Posts: 15 ✭✭

    Must admit I do like it, but as a one man band it wont fly. So as they say on "Dragons Den" I'm Out !!!!!

    I will just get used to copy and pasting codes or error or event logs into ChatGPT/Claude/ etc etc etc

  • gilgi
    gilgi Administrator, Moderator, Internal Posts: 313 admin

    @martin.fdi
    You're correct that Copilot makes your life easier - however it also makes the clients' lives easier.
    You'll upgrade the way you monitor, manage and resolve issues, but it'll also improve the SLA you provide them, resolve issues much faster (which allows them to resume work), and prevent issues before the client is even aware of them.

  • mbudke
    mbudke Member Posts: 137 ✭✭✭

    Hi @gilgi ,

    I think what you mention is already covered by the Thresholds.
    The threshold management has not been updated for a long time within Atera. Can you please confirm threshold management will be further developed in future (still a lot to improve) or is this going to be replaced by AIT?

    Thanks,
    Matthias

  • gilgi
    gilgi Administrator, Moderator, Internal Posts: 313 admin

    To an extent - you have to set up the threshold profiles, while Copilot can take action with many other issues, including those that you didn't set up in advance.

    And yes, most certainly Thresholds will receive updates, in fact if you check the product roadmap there is a planned item for 'last reboot time' which was pulled from the feature requests portal - https://www.atera.com/roadmap/