Has the Standard (Perpetual License) Option Been Removed?

Brandon, welcome to these public User Forums.

See KB 68375: Licensing change FAQ: Acronis products switch to subscription-only licenses - where this unwelcome change was announced recently!

I just read about this on reddit and here are my thoughts:

It looks like I have already purchased my LAST copy/version of ATI. I WILL NEVER BE SUCKED INTO A SUBSCRITPION. Especially since ATI 2020 lacked basic features that were omitted due to what I feel was a lack of effort on Acronis' part to provide a complete/finished/polished product. I was expected to purchase ATI 2021 to get the expected functionality that should have been INLCUDED in ATI 2020.

And then after not completing ATI 2020, anti-virus functionality was added to ATI 2021 that just about crippled computers without a avenue to disable the unwanted "feature."  IMO, ATI is no longer a backup product tool, it is anti-virus software. 

I see this move as way to Acronis to try and push their anti-virus software onto what Acronis should consider valued/loyal ATI customers. I am not biting. There are other backup solution providers that would LOVE to have my occasional business without sucking me into a annual subscription.

Edit: It is already bad enough that Acronis pushes their promotional pop-ups to ATI with no obvious method to disable them. I would expect that from a freeware, but not in a PAID PRODUCT. Now they want to push unwanted anti-virus software along with it!

Acronis wants it all...well from me they will get NONE!

With that said, I have not posted many times, but the members of this community has provided me invaluable information/recommendations/solutions with ATI just by reading though the posts. Thank you for your assistance and wish you all the best.
 

Acronis has well and truly disappeared up it's own backside with this move.  I've been purchasing full Acronis Backup/TrueImage licenses for years but am not going to adhere to any kind of subscription model.

TrueImage/Backup are not security products.  Disk backup solutions don't require monthly or even yearly updates, if you make one right, it's good for several years.  That's the problem I guess though - getting some money for making a good product isn't enough, Acronis wants all the money and is willing to compromise it's product and reputation to do so.  I hope everyone sees this for the cynical move it is and votes with their wallet.

I've managed to pick up a few perpetual licenses for TI2021 but it looks like this will be my last purchase from Acronis.  So long, ATI, it was good while it lasted.  Sleep well, sweet prince.

At the very least, Acronis could have given their customers a choice.

The choice to disable or completely remove their anti-virus tool and leave the backup tool.

Personally, I do not prefer subscriptions for backup systems and I definitely do not care to have my anti-virus system be provided from other than my own country.  Foreign companies providing anti-virus protection for me makes me very uneasy, however, I can see their motives.

The notice said the Perpetual License would no longer be sold in the Northern Europe and the Middle East markets. I live in the United States so the change does not affect me.

Edward Kenny wrote:

The notice said the Perpetual License would no longer be sold in the Northern Europe and the Middle East markets. I live in the United States so the change does not affect me.

It does affect the US. I can no longer add a perpetual license when I try to upgrade using my Acronis account. Clicking BUY More  in my account only offers subscription licenses.

My understanding is that perpetual licences can only be purchased from third party suppliers - just another form of discouragement. Makes it more expensive for the consumer and probably results in less return to Acronis. They tried this approach in Australia some time back and it was a disaster; impossible to find resellers.

Ian

thomasjk wrote:

Edward Kenny wrote:

The notice said the Perpetual License would no longer be sold in the Northern Europe and the Middle East markets. I live in the United States so the change does not affect me.

It does affect the US. I can no longer add a perpetual license when I try to upgrade using my Acronis account. Clicking BUY More  in my account only offers subscription licenses.

You are right. I don't see it on BUY more in my account either.

I checked with the distributor I buy from. Here is what is on his web site.

True Image 2021 (Perpetual License)
Acronis discontinued this product on April 1, 2021, but we still have some available.

I have had a lot of problems with Acronis True Image. Especially ATI 2017 and ATI 2021. I am on my 2nd ticket this year. I'll give it a month or two to resolve that issue. I am going to have to do a lot of thinking about this. It may be time to find another backup solution.

this is absolutely annoying! so that was definatly the last acronis-product. being a customer for over 1o years but now i am looking for another solution/vendor how sells perpetual licences too. any suggestions for an acronis-backup-alternative? thanks a lot in advance and sorry for my lousy english!

Oliver, see forum topic: Reflecting on a Post-ATI World

Cool.  So I'll never be buying another Acronis product again, ever.

Thanks for being stupid enough to make that decision easy, Acronis!  Lol ...

If you prefer True Image then just stick with True Image 2019 and make an WinPE (x64) Windows 10 boot media from it, which guarantees many more years usage out of it. Plus it doesn't create images in the .tibx format or slows down your computers due to their included system invading processes and anti-virus stuff.

Apart from the loyal "we'll stand by Acronis, no matter what" crowd and the other people clearly received an financial incentive to make fake praising True Image 2021 reviews........Acronis has lost many users trust and respect.

[moderated for violating the ToU]

Michael, welcome to these public User Forums.

I have no idea where you get the idea that I have done any justifying of the changes Acronis made in ATI 2021 and if you actually read any of my posts you will see the opposite!

See forum topic: Reflecting on a Post-ATI World

All MVP's are simply experienced users - we do not work for or get paid by Acronis!  We offer our time in the forums freely to share our experience with other users.

[moderated for violating the ToU]

This is really bad.

I regret to have bought a 2021 subscription license by mistake(bought essential) and thought this would be permanent lic. Also getting the serial number was difficult for me to get so i had extra to contact the support to tell me which serial number i have for registering.

Bad, worse worst in just one product.

Also what about the old lic.? why cant i buy a 2020 sandard permanent lic. anymore?

I wand the permanent standard lic. back!!!

Have you tried eBay or Amazon in your search for ATI 2020?

I'm done with True Image and Acronis as well.  Too many bugs, and the new subscription model is incredibly customer hostile.  It's too expensive for the level of grief it causes, and the anti-whatever bloat they're forcing on everyone.

I'm outta here.

For the first time since I have been using it (around 15 years with at least 5 upgrades on multi-computer perpetual licenses), I had need to restore from a backup last weekend when one of the disk partition software programs decided to crash out after deleting partitions erased a partition instead of converting it. Thankfully, everything restored successfully ready to work remotely on Monday. Apart from one issue with one upgrade license, I have never hit the problems that some seem to have seen with ATI over the years, 

Along I go to reward Acronis for their reliable (for me) product with another upgrade as I am still on 2018 but oh no! That is it for me! Yet another exit I am afraid...

Very sad to see the Perpetual License option vanish.  Acronis has recovered me from a couple of system crashes, botched updates, and a couple of failed HDDs.  I have a license for 2021 which I suppose I will use now for backup and recovery only (I disable all the malware protection, I have other suites for that).  When the application no longer is compatible with Windows, I will have to consider another product.

Shame really, as I like their Recovery Media, and have used it for a very long time, and on multiple systems (5 user licenses). (Since 2009)

I suppose one could always go with the somewhat limited versions that you get access to when you buy an new SSD/HDD. I might have a look and see if they are worthy substitutes.

Ian

IanL-S wrote:

I suppose one could always go with the somewhat limited versions that you get access to when you buy an new SSD/HDD. I might have a look and see if they are worthy substitutes.

Ian

That raises an interesting question Ian - what will happen to all the different OEM versions of ATI now that Acronis have effectively ended that product line and moved on to Cyber Protect with added backup features?

I have acronis 2020 and was trying to upgrade to 2021 but I kept getting the subscription upgrade which I do not believe in. For Businesses, subscription licensing is a valid business cos bt for private individuals having a yearly commitment and cost for ever is not a sensible solution. O have used acronis perpetual license for over 10 years, I am now going to look at other options as I do not want to go down the subscription route for private use.

Dear All,

We have official Perpetual/ Standard Acronis True Image 2021  [now known as Cyber Protect Home] licenses available with us. We offer them at flat 50% OFF on MRP.

Email us at - mayuri[at]shreeservice[dot]co[dot]in

We guarantee all official licenses [Standard, Essential, Advanced, Premium] delivery over email at flat 50% OFF. Payment protected over Paypal.

If you are in India, then you can also order the same from Amazon. Just put below code in Amazon India - B08FVHLKSP.

Thanks.

Gerald, welcome to these public User Forums.

If your ATI 2020 is doing all you need at this time, then there should be no need to upgrade or change horses, as it should continue to work just fine.

I have done some limited testing and have ATI 2019 working with the latest beta (insiders) build of Windows 11 (running in a test VMware virtual machine).

Hi all,

I bought a licence in June - "Acronis True Image Standard Cybersecurity 2021 1 Computer (Perpetual License)"

Acronis just prompted me that there was an update avail so I installed it... now its saying the software isn't licensed and I'm on a different version - cyber protect home office.

Do I need to downgrade back to the old version? 

What a mess.  Obviously a trap to get people to move to their new subscription model.

John, welcome to these public User Forums.

Sorry but if you upgraded from a Standard, perpetual licensed copy of ATI 2021 then the upgrade is to a subscription license of ACPHO which you will need to buy or else it will stop working once the trial period of 30 days is past.

You will need to uninstall ACPHO and reinstall ATI 2021 to revert back to your perpetual license unless you have a backup taken before the upgrade you can restore.

Note: turn off the option to 'Automatically check for updates on startup' in the Settings panel and ignore the 'A new version is available' on the Account page unless you want to move to subscription.

Steve Smith wrote:

John, welcome to these public User Forums.

Sorry but if you upgraded from a Standard, perpetual licensed copy of ATI 2021 then the upgrade is to a subscription license of ACPHO which you will need to buy or else it will stop working once the trial period of 30 days is past.

You will need to uninstall ACPHO and reinstall ATI 2021 to revert back to your perpetual license unless you have a backup taken before the upgrade you can restore.

Note: turn off the option to 'Automatically check for updates on startup' in the Settings panel and ignore the 'A new version is available' on the Account page unless you want to move to subscription.

 

Thanks for the reply Steve.  

Awful behaviour to prompt users to auto-upgrade to a product they aren’t licenced for.  I won't bother buying another Acronis product.

I am glad that I am the only one that feels really disappointed on the changes that happened to ATI, but I have since 6 months ago change to another backup solution mention on another Acronis forum topic which works nicely… the only thing I will be missing is the Try&Decide module from ATI that I have used a lot in the past. I knew this was coming since a user from reddit ask about the perpetual license not being available for purchased and was told by an Acronis employee that it was because most of their customer preferred the subscription model instead of the perpetual model which I found really weird as there are tons of people like me that prefers just a backup solution only and not an antivirus/antimalware software that one must pay to use every year.

reddit . com/r/acronis/comments/mo3hr6/standard_edition_not_available/

The only truly reliable way to gage user preference is see how many users desert the product. I think a lot will.

Ian

Hi,

ie for me . As it is not possible to get perpetual licences from Acronis, I'm going to try another products (don't hesitate to send mail recommandation in MP)...

So bye bye Acronis .....

IanL-S wrote:

The only truly reliable way to gage user preference is see how many users desert the product. I think a lot will.

Ian

Me for example....

Yann METAIRIE  

(don't hesitate to send mail recommandation in MP)

You may find some useful information in the following forum thread:

Reflecting on a Post-ATI World

Thank's a lot J K for your link. Very usefull. Exactly what I need.

BR

Hello Everyone,

thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us! I've registered all the feedback regarding the change. Here you can find more information on the reasons behind the change https://kb.acronis.com/content/68375

Ekaterina wrote:

Hello Everyone,

thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us! I've registered all the feedback regarding the change. Here you can find more information on the reasons behind the change https://kb.acronis.com/content/68375

These reasons are all valid for critical business customers, but not for the majority of Home Users and TrueImage Home was for home users. And all the intergration of these security featuers made ATI slow and clumsy to use. I've disabled the always immediately as i'm using different products for CyberSecurity. I never put all my eggs in one basket. Therefore my current ATI 2021 perpetual liceses, and I have quite a lot of them, are my last with Acronis!

Hello everyone,

I'm here about the perpetual licence removal…

I understand that Acronis getting Cloud and cyber protection turn but I can't understand why there isn't a simple backup software with a perpetual licence… I use Acronis since 2008 with registered licence but this time I'll looking for another software…

Bye

Rick McClenthen wrote:

I just read about this on reddit and here are my thoughts:

It looks like I have already purchased my LAST copy/version of ATI. I WILL NEVER BE SUCKED INTO A SUBSCRITPION. Especially since ATI 2020 lacked basic features that were omitted due to what I feel was a lack of effort on Acronis' part to provide a complete/finished/polished product. I was expected to purchase ATI 2021 to get the expected functionality that should have been INLCUDED in ATI 2020.

And then after not completing ATI 2020, anti-virus functionality was added to ATI 2021 that just about crippled computers without a avenue to disable the unwanted "feature."  IMO, ATI is no longer a backup product tool, it is anti-virus software. 

I see this move as way to Acronis to try and push their anti-virus software onto what Acronis should consider valued/loyal ATI customers. I am not biting. There are other backup solution providers that would LOVE to have my occasional business without sucking me into a annual subscription.

Edit: It is already bad enough that Acronis pushes their promotional pop-ups to ATI with no obvious method to disable them. I would expect that from a freeware, but not in a PAID PRODUCT. Now they want to push unwanted anti-virus software along with it!

Acronis wants it all...well from me they will get NONE!

With that said, I have not posted many times, but the members of this community has provided me invaluable information/recommendations/solutions with ATI just by reading though the posts. Thank you for your assistance and wish you all the best.
 

Screw Acronis. I am not buying a subscription. That's obviously a move to try to get rid of home users. I don't need any bloatware with pretend cyberprotection. I need a backup software that is able to create ready to go images.

I have been using ATI forever and now it's time to move on. I AM NOT SUBSCRIBING TO THIS CRAP.

Screw Acronis.

Rick McClenthen wrote:

I just read about this on reddit and here are my thoughts:

It looks like I have already purchased my LAST copy/version of ATI. I WILL NEVER BE SUCKED INTO A SUBSCRITPION. Especially since ATI 2020 lacked basic features that were omitted due to what I feel was a lack of effort on Acronis' part to provide a complete/finished/polished product. I was expected to purchase ATI 2021 to get the expected functionality that should have been INLCUDED in ATI 2020.

And then after not completing ATI 2020, anti-virus functionality was added to ATI 2021 that just about crippled computers without a avenue to disable the unwanted "feature."  IMO, ATI is no longer a backup product tool, it is anti-virus software. 

I see this move as way to Acronis to try and push their anti-virus software onto what Acronis should consider valued/loyal ATI customers. I am not biting. There are other backup solution providers that would LOVE to have my occasional business without sucking me into a annual subscription.

Edit: It is already bad enough that Acronis pushes their promotional pop-ups to ATI with no obvious method to disable them. I would expect that from a freeware, but not in a PAID PRODUCT. Now they want to push unwanted anti-virus software along with it!

Acronis wants it all...well from me they will get NONE!

With that said, I have not posted many times, but the members of this community has provided me invaluable information/recommendations/solutions with ATI just by reading though the posts. Thank you for your assistance and wish you all the best.
 

Sorry Acronis! Bad decision to no longer offer permanent licenses to home users. I will NOT subscribe to any newer versions of Acronis. Also, I would not upgrade to a product which includes anti-virus, which I do not need or want. Good luck with your corporate customers, because you are loosing all of your faithful home uses.

Yup, that's it. I'm never doing a subscription for something I use maybe once every six months. I'm looking for a new imaging software. I've have each version of Acronis and stuck through all the fails they've had, but this is the last straw. I'm out for ever!

George Johnson wrote:

Good luck with your corporate customers, because you are loosing all of your faithful home uses.

I would guess that is their goal with this. Get rid of all home customers so they can focus on their corporate products and customers. I find it hard to see any other reason for this.

Their published reasons just sounds like the usual marketing speak, and anyone that's been in the business for a while can see that quite easily. Acronis think they can use old trick of making more money by trying to force customers to pay more for features they do not want, and if the home users do not accept that, just leave them to the competition and focus on their corporate portfolio. 

This is obvious as they continue to sell perpetual licenses in some markets, but not in others.

I am both a home user and a corporate user, and in neither of those cases would I trust something as important as a backup to a subscription license. A backup must be usable 10 years from now. With this kind of behavior, I would not trust Acronis to be around by then.

Hello Everyone,

thank you for taking the time to share your honest opinion on this change! I've forwarded each and every comment to the respective teams.  

Ekaterina wrote:

Hello Everyone,

thank you for taking the time to share your honest opinion on this change! I've forwarded each and every comment to the respective teams.  

 Thanks, but I have my doubts they will consider changing anything. They've obviously thought this out and decided they didn't care if I lost them customers. I've already moved on to an AOMEI product. Unless they change course and offer one hell of a discount to come back...I'm not even going to consider it. Thanks for your reply.

Hi all - interesting reading. I came looking to (maybe) upgrade, as I've had Acronis licenses for many years. However, I won't be buying a subscription license, so I may be done with this product.

I have perpetual licenses for 3 PCs for ATI 11 (~2009) through 2020, and a single perpetual license for ATI 2021. I upgraded to 2021 over a year ago, but have not installed it. The .exe for ATI 2021 that I have reports the file as version 25.4.1.30480, from Oct 2020.

The Windows 10 PC that I'm using now has ATI 2019 installed. I plan on buying a new laptop soon and it will probably come with Windows 11. Can I expect to be able to use any of the versions that I have with a Windows 11 PC?

Bill

I have the 2014 perpetual license and according to this link I can upgrade to 2021 version.  But will it not be perpetual?

No one from customer support has gotten back to me.  I agree that there's no way I'm buying a subscription based backup software.

https://kb.acronis.com/content/65511#Which_products_can_be_upgraded_to_…

Ok, you have lost another customer, I was going to upgrade but f that I will not pay a sub, I will not be back even if you go back to a perpetual license.

your truly,

Lost Customer

Mike D'Amore

Beginner

Posts: 2

Comments: 3

New

After over 10 years with Acronis, I too am calling it quits. Why? Bloatware that has led to the neglect of the core functions. I have a plain old Dell Optiplex 3060. Acronis True Image 2021 couldn't recognize an external USB that was to be the destination drive. Then it recognized it and the process failed. Then it stopped even trying.

When I contacted tech support they said I had to boot with a flash drive which was easy enough to create within Acronis. I have UEFI so I can't readily designate boot order. As many of you probably know, you need to F12 into a pre-OS legacy menu to boot from a USB device. And when you do, there could still be problems. Dell uses RAID drivers by default the past few years, not AHCI. Acronis itself admits it sometimes has problems with RAID drivers. Why bother?? Very discouraging. Even Amazon users are giving Acronis bad reviews.

And then there's the subscription! No way!

Macrium Reflect freeware worked flawlessly to clone to an SSD which is now my boot drive.

I too will be moving on to another backup product.   I've used Acronis I think as far back as 2006 where they were one of the first to use image based backup technology.   But Acronis isn't what it used to be.
And this subscription garbage without a perpetual license option.
Acronis is even behind on maintaining Disk Director, another product that used to be awesome.

About the only thing I can only find in Acronis is a true backup and restore of Android data types, particularly SMS/MMS messages.   Google says it provides backups, but try to do a restore.
But even the Mobile backup is flawed, lacking the flexibility that desktop backups offer, and has fatal errors when trying to back up my mobile calendar