Thursday, May 19, 2005

HeirMenus: Good product, bad price

I used HeirMenus a few years ago. It is a cross browser DHTML menuing system that is pretty powerful. I thought I might use it personally or in work so I checked up on it by requesting info from their site. I got an email back from the man in charge and this is what the cost would be:

The standard licensing fee for a single commercial Web site
is $995.00 USD. However, I can offer you the license for
a promotion we are currently running.

  • Commercial sites: $595 USD
  • Intranet/Developer: $495 USD
  • Not-for-profit/Edu: $395 USD

This license gives you access to HierMenus Version 6 and
all updates for this version, as well as a support address
to answer technical questions. Each Web site requires a
separate license.

Holy crap! That's a lot of money PER WEB SITE for a menuing system. My response....

Thank you for the information but ....

Did I read that right? 400-600 for a menuing system for a single site? You must be off your rocker. That much should allow unlimited use by the company/organization. I understand the development effort involved in keeping the product cross-browser compatible but I think your pricing yourself away from possible clients. Your product is good, I've used a previous version years ago when HierMenus was developed as a technical article for a web site but I couldn't justify that price personally or to any manager. I have the possibility of setting up dozens of internal gov. sites and your telling me I'd have to spend 500 a pop for this code use? In just two minutes I found another free cross-browser JavaScript based menu that works very well. Sorry but I will have to pass on HeirMenus.

Walken on the Moon

Walken on the Moon
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