# Yearly cost of Cubase?



## ka00 (Mar 25, 2020)

Hi,

I'm a Logic user, but recently bought a PC (for 3D animation and editing). It could save me money in the long term to consolidate all activities to a PC and thus not have to upgrade both a Mac and a PC every few years. Logic has the benefit of a one time purchase price with all updates free, but Mac hardware does come at a premium.

So, just curious, let's say you partake in every new paid upgrade of Cubase, and you figure out when the yearly sales/discounts are so you're buying it at the right time.... then what does the actual ongoing ownership cost of Cubase work out to per year?

Thanks!


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## greggybud (Mar 25, 2020)

Unlike some recent misinformation spread on forums, the paid upgrade happens once a year, not twice. 

$60.

Traditionally Steinberg has a upgrade ready around Black Friday. A few years ago it was released in early December, but that has changed. This is not to say that they could completely change the release time, but I doubt it at this point.

Through out the year there are periodic updates. 

There was one .5 upgrade for free long ago. I'm not sure what got into their minds.


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## LinusW (Mar 25, 2020)

...but it gets more expensive if you don’t buy every single upgrade. 
Like upgrading 9.5 to 10 and later to 10.5 will be cheaper than passing on 10 and purchasing an upgrade from 9.5 to 10.5.


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## blinkofani (Mar 25, 2020)

IIRC, it’s 60$ for the .5 upgrade and 150$ going from 10.5 to 11, for example. So, it would be more accurate to say it’s around 100$/year to stay up to date in Cubase land. I did a little exercise with a friend who has a XPS laptop some time ago. Starting in 2013 when LPX came out and comparing me with 13” MBP at the time and him with his XPS and Cubase(about same specs, 16gb ram, 256gb SSD, etc). Both laptops were bought in 2015 but we started in 2013 for the software and added our hardware purchases to the total. As of last year, it ended up he paid his DAW 400$ more than me staying current with Cubase. He saved on the laptop but everything else was more expensive. Just sayin’...


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## Technostica (Mar 25, 2020)

blinkofani said:


> IIRC, it’s 60$ for the .5 upgrade and 150$ going from 10.5 to 11, for example. So, it would be more accurate to say it’s around 100$/year to stay up to date in Cubase land. I did a little exercise with a friend who has a XPS laptop some time ago. Starting in 2013 when LPX came out and comparing me with 13” MBP at the time and him with his XPS and Cubase(about same specs, 16gb ram, 256gb SSD, etc). Both laptops were bought in 2015 but we started in 2013 for the software and added our hardware purchases to the total. As of last year, it ended up he paid his DAW 400$ more than me staying current with Cubase. He saved on the laptop but everything else was more expensive. Just sayin’...


It does skew the numbers in your particular scenario as Logic is a bargain for sure.
For most people though, when you add in the total cost of all the other music software and hardware bought over a 7 year period, that difference is insignificant on an annual basis.
But if Apple never start charging for upgrades, the difference will add up to a lot over 20 years or so.


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## ok_tan (Mar 25, 2020)

Technostica said:


> It does skew the numbers in your particular scenario as Logic is a bargain for sure.
> For most people though, when you add in the total cost of all the other music software and hardware bought over a 7 year period, that difference is insignificant on an annual basis.
> But if Apple never start charging for upgrades, the difference will add up to a lot over 20 years or so.


the difference will even add up more over 50 years!


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## greggybud (Mar 25, 2020)

blinkofani said:


> IIRC, it’s 60$ for the .5 upgrade and 150$ going from 10.5 to 11, for example.



Are you sure about that? I just checked and going from 9.5 to 10.5 is $150. So going from 9.5 to 10 I would have thought $99.








Cubase | Four Times Your Favorite DAW for Production


Learn more about how to produce your music with Cubase.




new.steinberg.net


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## MisteR (Mar 25, 2020)

Here’s the thing that Cubase users know. You buy the upgrade. You don’t activate it if you don’t need it. You wait until the next upgrade. You activate your older license. The latest version is a free update. You’ve cut that cost in half.


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## dzilizzi (Mar 25, 2020)

Okay, this is how I do it on the cheap. I wait for the sale of the .5 edition. I've gotten it for about $50 or less. Usually the summer before the next full upgrade. I then wait for the upgrade to come out and register my .5 copy & download it. I then get the automatic upgrade to the next full version that they do as a freebie so people don't get upset about paying for the full upgrade after just buying the .5.

So this way, I really never use the .5 version but I do try to download it just in case the full new version has problems.

Edit: I forgot to say this is every other year. So less than $50 every other year. Good deal.


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## blinkofani (Mar 26, 2020)

greggybud said:


> Are you sure about that? I just checked and going from 9.5 to 10.5 is $150. So going from 9.5 to 10 I would have thought $99.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Boy, I think I’ll go live where you are!! Here going from 9.5 to 10.5 is 240$CAD+tx, 260$-something CAD. But, as it has been said, the best strategy is to buy during the 40% sale, wait for the next version’s grace period to start and register your licence then. But you’re not always current doing so, which might be a good thing or not depending on what Steinberg delivers and what’s important for you. 

Personally, I got off the Steinberg train some time ago. Always tried to love their products as Cubase is a great software(when it works as promised) but been burned too often with half-baked Cubase versions, malfunctioning installers for Retrologue and PadShop AU version purchases and no replies whatsoever with Steiny’s support. But that’s the talk for another thread....


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## pisskeule (Apr 21, 2020)

Well, how much in total Cubase costs depends on how you see it. If you fancy paid for downgrades, pointless modifications to the software as well as features they've sold to people years ago already, but were of lackluster quality or not working at all...that's pretty expensive. 

Also, bear in mind that early adopers are merely getting the latest beta version, hence one should always stay a version or two behind. Although it is noticeable that in recent times they're trying to avoid people doing that by simply not providing hotfixes to older versions anymore, or at least won't deliver the most urgent fixes via them. 

People in the industry are hence referring to Steinberg as probably the most dreadful company there is in the field. Creativity first, whereas creativity to them means "rinsing your pockets".


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## Markus Kohlprath (Apr 22, 2020)

dzilizzi said:


> Okay, this is how I do it on the cheap. I wait for the sale of the .5 edition. I've gotten it for about $50 or less. Usually the summer before the next full upgrade. I then wait for the upgrade to come out and register my .5 copy & download it. I then get the automatic upgrade to the next full version that they do as a freebie so people don't get upset about paying for the full upgrade after just buying the .5.
> 
> So this way, I really never use the .5 version but I do try to download it just in case the full new version has problems.
> 
> Edit: I forgot to say this is every other year. So less than $50 every other year. Good deal.


This is exactly what I do exept that I usually wait for the .5 update to activate it which is often a bit more stable and finished I think. At least in some past experiences. In the moment the 10.5 combi with mojave on my Macpro 5,1 2012 with upgraded GPU and CPU is a very joyful experience I have to say. By far the snappiest and most stable version I ever had. And I didn't pay more than 59€. Unless there will be some very serious new features I can easily live with that for another two years, wait for the next update deal and update when needed and when it is more or less tested and proved. 
Maybe a good time to freeze the system concentrate on making music and hope that the hardware stays alive.


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## NYC Composer (Apr 22, 2020)

Overall, I’m having a good experience with Cubase 10.5.12 as well, but I will say that having come over all the way from 6.02 (I skipped a few years, like 9 😀) it crashes much more often, and seems to crash VEP 6 as well, or maybe it’s the other way around. Anyway, 6 was bulletproof-this one ain’t, but I’m using a MUCH bigger template, so, I dunno.


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## Daniel (Apr 22, 2020)

NYC Composer said:


> Overall, I’m having a good experience with Cubase 10.5.12 as well, but I will say that having come over all the way from 6.02 (I skipped a few years, like 9 😀) it crashes much more often, and seems to crash VEP 6 as well, or maybe it’s the other way around. Anyway, 6 was bulletproof-this one ain’t, but I’m using a MUCH bigger template, so, I dunno.


Sometimes Cubase 10.5.12 suddenly cannot import Video file or import audio from Video. And in this case my Cubase 6 always helping me. Cubase 10.5.12 also got crash with iZotope Ozone 9/Neutron 3. 





Neutron Crashes Cubase and Komplete Kontrol. Help!


Every time I load Neutron, Relay or Visual Mixer into Cubase or Komplete Kontrol it crashes them. This is something new--I never had any trouble before. All my other iZotope products like Ozone, Nectar, Trash, RX7, Vocal Synth, etc. still work fine. I have uninstalled Neutron 2 and Neutron 3...




vi-control.net


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## kitekrazy (Apr 22, 2020)

ka00 said:


> $60 bucks a year seems reasonable. Thanks for the info, guys!



That's the price for a non commercial license of Reaper. You wait awhile before paying for a new license. There are plenty of benefits using it.


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## dzilizzi (Apr 22, 2020)

NYC Composer said:


> Overall, I’m having a good experience with Cubase 10.5.12 as well, but I will say that having come over all the way from 6.02 (I skipped a few years, like 9 😀) it crashes much more often, and seems to crash VEP 6 as well, or maybe it’s the other way around. Anyway, 6 was bulletproof-this one ain’t, but I’m using a MUCH bigger template, so, I dunno.


If you have the drive space, you can probably have both 6 and 10 on your computer. I was running 7, 8 and 9 before I realized I had to uninstall at least one of them. Of course, that was when I had a very roomy platter drive. My SSD OS drive is not as roomy. But they all would open and work.


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## dcoscina (Apr 22, 2020)

In Canada these updates are much more expensive. Compare that to Logic X which has plenty of updates for no charge.
I love Cubase and think it’s work flow is better than LPX but lately I’ve been using Logic more for stability and affordability.


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## dzilizzi (Apr 22, 2020)

dcoscina said:


> In Canada these updates are much more expensive. Compare that to Logic X which has plenty of updates for no charge.
> I love Cubase and think it’s work flow is better than LPX but lately I’ve been using Logic more for stability and affordability.


Yes but your Logic dongle is very expensive and generally not upgradeable.


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## NYC Composer (Apr 22, 2020)

dzilizzi said:


> If you have the drive space, you can probably have both 6 and 10 on your computer. I was running 7, 8 and 9 before I realized I had to uninstall at least one of them. Of course, that was when I had a very roomy platter drive. My SSD OS drive is not as roomy. But they all would open and work.


Thanks-I do have both, but I’m loathe to open 6. What worries me a little is preferences. I’m pretty committed to 10.5 now-I’d REALLY prefer not to screw it up.


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## blinkofani (Apr 23, 2020)

dzilizzi said:


> Yes but your Logic dongle is very expensive and generally not upgradeable.


I know you’re making a joke but those expensive dongle comments are a bit long in the tooth. It’s been pretty much proven that a similar specs and quality Windows computer is not that much less expensive than a Mac. Unless you build it yourself but then again someone that have the knowledge to build a good “PC” would probably also have the chops to build a Hackintoch for a lot less than an official Mac. Or you can go buy a 300$ PC at Staples but good luck with that and running a DAW.

Same thing for the Reaper comparison. Someone who bought for a long time different VIs, have a good collection, and then buys Reaper for 60$ will consider it a steal for what the app offers. But someone starting out who buys Reaper will have to invest a good amount to equal the VIs offer that Cubase or Logic gives you. That initial 60$ will end up being a lot more once you add the equivalent of Alchemy, Retrologue, Groove Agent, Drum Kit Designer. I could go on...


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## Prockamanisc (Apr 23, 2020)

It alternates. If it's a full version, then the upgrade is $100. If it's a half version, then the upgrade is $60. So upgrading 10 to 10.5 was $60, but upgrading 9.5 to 10 was $100. I assume that upgrading 10.5 to 11 will be $100. I'm not factoring if you skip a version, because why would you do that?


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## dzilizzi (Apr 23, 2020)

blinkofani said:


> I know you’re making a joke but those expensive dongle comments are a bit long in the tooth. It’s been pretty much proven that a similar specs and quality Windows computer is not that much less expensive than a Mac. Unless you build it yourself but then again someone that have the knowledge to build a good “PC” would probably also have the chops to build a Hackintoch for a lot less than an official Mac. Or you can go buy a 300$ PC at Staples but good luck with that and running a DAW.
> 
> Same thing for the Reaper comparison. Someone who bought for a long time different VIs, have a good collection, and then buys Reaper for 60$ will consider it a steal for what the app offers. But someone starting out who buys Reaper will have to invest a good amount to equal the VIs offer that Cubase or Logic gives you. That initial 60$ will end up being a lot more once you add the equivalent of Alchemy, Retrologue, Groove Agent, Drum Kit Designer. I could go on...


This is true. You could go the Hackintosh way. But whenever you compare how inexpensive it is to use Logic, you have to take into account it only runs on Mac. I would like to try Logic. But I paid about $1400 for my latest PC laptop that has a 9th gen i7 with 16 GB and slots for an M.2 and SSD. I immediately upgraded the RAM to 64 GB, upgraded the 512 GB M.2 to 1TB and added a 1TB SSD. I could do that because it was not soldered in. In the end, it cost less than $2K. An equivalent Mac would be almost $4K, and you only get one drive.

So any time you compare the cost of Logic to another DAW, you need to take into account that the other DAWs don't have the buy in costs of Logic. 

Plus, I only spend about $50 ever other year on Cubase. Unlike ProTools where if you don't pay the annual fee, you have have nothing. Or if you are like me an have a perpetual license, you will never be able to update again. 

Okay, I don't want to turn this into an Apple v PC debate so much. If you are going to buy an Apple computer anyway, I would go with Logic. It is much cheaper than Cubase in the long run. But if you are generally comparing the costs of DAWs, you have to take into account Logic is only available with a comparably more expensive Apple computer.


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