Is the Subscription Model Fair?
Recently I decided to download FiLMiC Pro as I'd heard how brilliant it was from friends and colleagues. It was definitely the 'go-to' video filming app, despite stiff competition from other apps such as BeastGrip, Pro Camera from Moment, Cinema P3 and many others.
When I was at the point of downloading FiLMiC Pro v7 from the App Store or Google Play it was confusing — this was now a subscription based service, and £3 a week! That's £155 a year, every year, wow that's a lot for an iPhone app! Also I noticed it only had 3 out of 5 stars, which seemed odd when everyone said how brilliant it was. The reviews were full of people moaning about the subscription fees and how bad FiLMiC were, saying they didn't care about their customers. So I went online too and the blog posts were saying the same thing — subscriptions are bad, FiLMiC are bad. This is shite, I thought, why have they done this? After researching this further I found they'd recently merged with Bending Spoons from Italy, and they prefer subscriptions, so maybe someone has decided that as FiLMiC is so good, customers will pay anything they ask. It felt a bit cheeky, especially as the competitors' apps are a much lower price point to buy.
When you download FiLMiC Pro v7 the first screen offers you a choice of a free one week trial or a £2.99 a week subscription, nothing else. So I clicked continue and again it just offered the £2.99 a week, no annual subscription option. WTF???
To be fair, a lot of blogs and social media posts feel like 'click-bait' and seem more interested in you clicking on their pages rather than helping to explain, in this case, what the pricing was. Negativity sells, look at the news! There wasn't any clear pricing on filmicpro.com's own website either, or the App Store or Google Play, so the only option was to message them. Go to the horse's mouth, so to speak, which was definitely the best option. Russ from FiLMiC Pro explained to me that the £2.99 a week subscription was for those film-makers who wanted to use FiLMiC Pro on an occasional basis, and there was an annual subscription of £51 a year. This made sense and wasn't unreasonable. For a top app, £51 isn't that much to pay, and if you only need to use it occasionally then £3 a week is a bargain. Use it four times a year and that's only £12. I did go back online and found a couple of people saying this — I guess the negative voices shout loudest, and if you look long enough you will find the answers.
For business owners and sole traders, you will know that you need to make money as you don't have a monthly wage — this is also true of larger companies. Research and development is expensive, it involves lots of testing, lots of ideas that don't work. The reality is that any business operating a one-off payment model is surely committing commercial suicide in the long term. Think about it — once you've paid for the app, how do they continue to make money and pay bills? There are only so many in-app purchases you can buy, and if you think they can make updates and create new innovations for free, think again. It costs time and money.
Would you rather buy an app for £5–10 as a one-off and they may not be here in 2 or 3 years' time, or would you pay a sensible price and know the company will be here in 5, 10 or more years' time? You will have invested your own time and money into learning that app and understanding what it can and can't do, so you'll feel comfortable using it. No matter the app or camera, it's nice to feel confident using a tool to create what you feel.
So to make it simple, these are the FiLMiC Pro subscription costs:
| 2023 | 2026 | |
| Weekly | £2.99 | £2.99 |
| Annually | £50.99 | £41.99 |
| Cinematographer Kit | £14.99 | £12.99 |
| Creator Weekly (add-on) | — | £9.99 |
Prices checked against the UK App Store, 2026 — the annual price has actually come down since 2023, worth knowing if you dismissed it as too expensive back then.
There are further in-app purchases if you want those features (again, no prices on the website!!!).
Currently, to access the annual subscription...
There are further in-app purchases if you want those features (again, no prices on the website!!!).
Currently, to access the annual subscription of £50.99 a year, ignore continue on the first page but click on the cross in the top left hand corner. The next page is Subscribe or OK — click Subscribe and it'll take you to the yearly subscription option. Really not sure why this wasn't on the first page, or why it isn't clearly labelled on the App Store or Google Play. I did suggest to FiLMiC Pro it would be best to be more transparent earlier on — this would save customer confusion and negative feedback, and hopefully they'll change this. People will always moan about change and increased prices, so you can't do much to prevent that, but at least be clear.
Personally I don't think this price is that bad, it's a pound a week and it's a brilliant tool, plus you can cancel at any time. If you only need it for short projects then buy it on a weekly basis for £3 a week; if, like me, you might want to use it more often, buy the annual subscription. Either way you are getting what you pay for. All these app creators need to earn money and pay the bills, they are not trying to con you — being self-employed is so different to earning a salaried wage. If you want and need this app then it's worth it, www.filmicpro.com, if not then buy an alternative.
For previous FiLMiC Pro owners there is Legacy, which is free for those who purchased before 25th August 2022, filmic-pro-v6. For the rest of us there is version 7, and it's your choice if you want it. If you want a business to survive it needs funds, otherwise it's dead in the water.
Apple App Store links: FiLMiC Pro v7 & FiLMiC Pro Legacy
Google Play Store links: FiLMiC Pro v7 & FiLMiC Pro Legacy
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