Weebly Pro vs Weebly Starter Plans – What It Means For You

Weebly announced some pretty big breakthroughs on December 12 2012.  These updates have design, and financial implications to you.

Aside from launching some much anticipated (and desired) features, such as expanded social icon selection, header slideshows, custom footers, site search and HD video capability, they’ve also announced the updated Pro and Starter Plans.

Just as a side note, we’ve included the expanded social icon selection, header slideshows and custom footers included in most of our premium DivTag templates since 2011, and these features will continue to be included as part of our premium designs.

To be clear, the header slideshows that we offer (which we also call “Header Plugins”) are sold separately from our premium templates – but more on this later.

Weebly Pro vs Weebly Starter vs Weebly Free Plans

Based on Weebly’s announcement, soon they will have 3 plans for you (we have a case study / illustration for you later – keep reading):

1) Free

2) Starter – $4 per month

3) Pro – $8 per month

Their newly announced features will only be available to Weebly Pro users.  So if you are using a free version of Weebly, you won’t have access to them until you upgrade to Pro.

There isn’t much information available yet regarding what features are available under the Starter Plan, but Weebly mentioned that it will contain a “subset” of the current Pro features.

Our understanding is that the Starter Plan will be $4 per month, and the Pro Plan will be $8 per month (an critical note about this later below)

Yes – prices are increasing!  Weebly Pro used to be available for $4 per month, and now it is doubling.

Fear not – for the current Pro users (and those who upgrade before the new plans are introduced) as you all will keep the same pricing structure ($4 per month) even after Weebly introduces the price increase on January 7 2013.

But for those who sign up after January 7 2013, you will be subject to higher monthly fees.

[If you want to find out how to get Weebly Pro for Free with no risks (click here), this might interest you]

Important distinction

An important part to keep in mind is that, these per month prices are on a PER WEBSITE basis, not per account like it is currently.

Currently, if you have a Pro account, all 10 websites for your account can enjoy Pro features.

After the new Starter and Pro Plans are released, the monthly charges will be applicable to EACH website, not account.

So there is distinct difference here.

So what does this mean to you?

As mentioned, if you are already a Pro user, nothing changes for you as you will keep paying the same monthly fee.  You can also upgrade prior to January 7 2013 to take advantage of the current low price.

But if you upgrade after the introduction of the new Plans, you will be paying $96 per year per website for the Pro Plan, or $48 per year per website for the Starter Plan.

We have a financial case study below for you.

But but but… is this fair???

It’s not a huge surprise, nor shock, that Weebly is increasing their monthly fees.

They’ve been busy creating more awesome features and themes for Weebly users, and that takes time and commitment.

Think about pushing out improvements to millions of Weebly users – not a small feat.

Think about the millions of users Weebly has to support – I don’t even want to imagine being in their shoes.

Further, we all know with quality, comes a certain price.

So is it unfair?  Well, that’s for you to answer as it is a very subjective to each person.  But as I said, I’m not surprised with this at all.

What about DivTag Templates?

We have been offering Weebly users some of the new features since 2011, including 1) expanded social icons and 2) custom footers (we call them “Drag and Drop Footers”) and 3) header slideshows (we call them “Header Plugins”)

Site search function is also fully compatible with our templates (we have other suggestions below on other search tools).

It means that if you invest in one of our premium template and a header plugin, which will cost you no more than $60 without any repeated fees (vs $96 per year per website in Weebly Pro costs), you can also have most of the new features that Weebly just released.

Remember, the investment you make in DivTag Templates is a 1-time investment, NOT a recurring monthly or annual fee (so you don’t have to pay again and again every month or year).

Case Study – Lifetime Cost to an average Weebly user

Let’s calculate specifically what this means to you and your bank account.

Let’s assume that an average website owner will keep a website up and running for 3 years.

Financial implications to you:

1) Weebly Free – $0 – but you won’t have access to any of the Starter or Pro plan features

2) Weebly Starter – $144 ($4 per month x 36 months) – you will have a subset of Pro features, but not all

3) Weebly Pro – $288 ($8 per month x 36 months) – you will have access to all Pro features

If you will be keeping your website for more than 3 years, your cost will be higher.

How doe this compare to purchasing a Premium Template and Header Plugin from DivTag Templates?

4) DivTag Templates – less than $60 (1-time lifetime investment – no repeat fees)

Using our designs will give you very similar features from Weebly (that are only available to their Pro users), and it may be more appetizing to your bank account.

What are some options to keep your costs down?

Here are a few tips to help you keep your costs low and your bank account happy:

1) Use premium templates like DivTag Templates

Our premium templates plus our header plugins will give you the drag and drop footer area and header slideshow results, without you having to pay monthly recurring / repeat fees.

Further, most of our premium templates also give you features that even Weebly Pro don’t have at this moment, including drag & drop header, video landing pages, drag & drop sidebars, just to name a few (note that each premium template contains different features – they are fully described on their product pages)

2) Get HD Video Players for Free

Good news – YouTube allows you to embed its HD videos into your Weebly website – for free.  Just grab the codes from YouTube, and insert them into your Weebly site using the “Custom HTML” element.  It literally takes just a few minutes.

This goes the same for Vimeo video players.  Grab the HTML codes, and drop them into even your free Weebly website using the “Custom HTML” element.

Final Thoughts

Weebly has definitely been working hard to improve all your experiences.  And supporting millions of users is no walk in the park.  It takes time, money and dedication.  So raising their monthly prices is not a huge surprise.

But if you’re just wondering, there are also other options out there (such as us!)

In my quick illustration above, if you invest no more than $60 in our premium template and header slideshow plugin, in combination of some free tools from Google, YouTube and Vimeo, you can also get most of the new features that Weebly just released.

Keep in mind that the investment in our premium products is a 1-time investment, and there are no repeat fees afterwards.

If you have any doubts about our premium products, have a look through our Showcased websites, which will show you success stories of how other Weebly users (just like you) have used our designs, and completely transformed their websites.

UPDATE: Weebly has now revealed its new pricing plans.  Click here to see new Weebly Pricing and what you get from the new Weebly Pro and Weebly Starter plans.

Get started by choosing a Premium Weebly Design

Find out how to get Weebly Pro for “Free” without any Risks (click here)