Subscription = Goodbye

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Quite shocking that Waves is basically expiring its previous users, who have spent quite some money to buy non-expiring licenses, and now, for keeping those non-expiring licenses, they have to forcefully migrate to a subscription, and without any reward, of any kind.

I would have expected existing users to still be able to take advantage of the WUP — why on earth would someone want to say goodbye to all these users, who have been to date paying contributors?

I find insulting that the only benefit I have is that I can keep the lifetime license for plugins that inevitably will be obsolete in a year or two.

Currently, I have an active WUP, but from today, sadly, I won’t use any Waves plugin anymore, because it’s a matter of time before these plugins won’t work anymore, and at that point, I must inevitably subscribe, and keep paying. I can’t even choose which plugins to rent, so I should pay even for what I will never use.

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Making mistakes happens, but I appreciate it when the one making a mistake realizes that and tries to find a solution.

Quite surprisingly (this time positively), it looks like Waves has reconsidered bringing back the perpetual license, and, most importantly, the ability to use the WUP.

The biggest mistake they did was probably to make such a big change without asking their users and listening to their feedback first — which I presume will not happen again in the future.

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I agree this is disastrous - mostly for Waves. Like most people I guess, I don’t want a subscription service, I choose the plugins I want, and have paid for what is for me quite an expensive package. That in an inevitably short time, will no doubt be of no use, as I won’t be able to get upgrades. Like the OP, I’ll be dumping waves at that point, which is a shame. For me this marks the end of waves, I can’t see many paying a monthly or yearly subscription. They should have made both possible. Maybe they’ll backtrack.

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Of course it’s inevitable that some people will post complaints on the forum, so looking at the announcement thread, it seems as if every user is complaining - but I’m willing to bet that for every one complainer there are hundreds (possibly thousands) of people who are perfectly happy to have immediate access to every single Waves plugin (plus future releases) for less than a dollar a day.

I’ve only recently bought the Mercury bundle, and I have a few individual plugin purchases too. Am I throwing my toys out of the pram? No, because I still have those plugins. They’ve not been deleted from my hard drive. I also now have all the other plugins that I gazed at longingly in the past, wondering if I should buy. Personally I think it’s a bargain.

All those people saying they don’t like or want subscriptions…yet I suspect they have no issues subscribing to services such as internet providers, cellphone providers, music streaming, film & TV streaming? Subs are the norm these days.

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The subscription works if you use it on a daily basis, and use the majority of the features it includes. If you are more of a random user, and maybe use them a few times per month, the perspective changes — it’s a huge cost.

If you work in the music industry, you might be happy to have a subscription — the cost is fixed, you get all updates, and all new releases as well. If you make music in your spare time, that same expense is not justifiable. That’s when a perpetual license becomes a better choice, you pay once, and you buy just only those few things you need. And you don’t have any pressure to upgrade when new versions are released.

So in the end it’s all about use cases and different personal needs.

In addition to that, when you migrate from a perpetual to a subscription model, you lose all the money you’ve invested, because all your perpetual licenses are replaced with subscription-based license — you get no recognition of reward or discount.

But fortunately Waves, after listening to the feedback, is giving us back the perpetual license, and the power to decide which works best for each of us.

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you probably know this and it’s just the way I read it, but you don’t loose your perpetual licenses, if you for whatever reason stop the subscription your perpetual licenses are still there allowing you to continue use those plugins (licenses) you own.

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Yeah, but as long as you don’t update your system, it’s not rate that if you install the latest macOS version all plugins stop working because not supported. So at that point you have two choices: freeze your mac or upgrade the plugins.

Maybe on Windows it’s different — there are not so many versions released :slight_smile:

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This is not exactly a new thread, but I thought I’d chip in my two cents. I was intially somewhat irritated with the Waves update plan, but eventually thought, okay, development is huge amount of work and what the hell, I earn money with Waves software so I can pay for the occasional update. Support your local software company, right? Unfortunately, I started having some hellish problems with a session that was crashing my computer. After much restarting and deactivation plugins I realized that Waves was the problem. I paid the update and everything worked fine. As I hadn’t updated my system, it’s a bit of a mystery as to why my Waves software was crashing my computer all of a sudden. Then came the subscription announcement. I know it’s been retracted, but I really don’t trust this company any more. I’ve now phased their stuff out of my productions. Not sure if they follow the forum, but there you are.

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It’s really disappointing that Waves is forcing users with non-expiring licenses to switch to a subscription model without any reward. Existing users should have been able to keep their WUP benefits. The only upside seems to be keeping lifetime licenses for plugins that may soon be obsolete. I’m considering ditching Waves plugins because I don’t want to be locked into a subscription model for tools I might not use

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Hey @lewis.andrewsteven664,

Welcome to the the Waves Forum.

You can decide if you wish to own your licenses as perpetual licenses or go with the Waves Creative Access path, there is no requirement to update or choose one over the other, it is totally up to you. Your perpetual licenses will continue to work even after the Waves Update Plan has expired or if there is a newer version, this is as long as your license version is supported with the computer and DAW you are using.

If you require further information or technical assistance with your Waves products you can Contact Technical Support they will gladly help out.

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A long time Waves owner with 2 subscriptions to Mercury + Studio Classics, and nearly every other plugin/instrument waves sells. I spent a small fortune for these over the years.

Now, a new customer off the street gets all of that for basically my WUP cost. Plus, there are more and more plugins not included now in Mercury.

Perpetual Licenses should not have to WUP to stay current. Waves main revenue is now coming from subscriptions. Those of us who owned our products long before WUP existed are still expected to pay for it? It’s a game to make one say…I might as well buy the subscription.

Sadly, I refuse to do either. All my waves plugs are no longer installed at all. Pretty dated stuff anyway. I moved on. I also sold all my Soundgrid hardware and eMotion LV1/64.

If waves ever does the right thing and gives the Perpetual license ZERO COST WUP, I might reinstall. If not, you lost me forever. But hey…you already bled me for about $20k over the last 15 years. Now I wish I had spent all that on hardware instead of software that I guess I never really owned. At least I would still have something of value.

Yup…over a year now…and I am still angry about it.

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I sympathize but I feel like Waves is unfairly targeted over this. There are so many other companies that do similar or the same, and they get a free pass from the same people that downvote any public positive mention of Waves.

It simply isn’t practical for a company to endlessly update tools for free. You mention hardware – but hardware companies don’t do this either.

There are tons of plugin and software makers that put all of their updates into the current version, and people who own the previous version must pay to update to get those new updates.

Bitwig sells its DAW as a perpetual license, but free updates only for a year. If you look at the license agreement for Izotope, they also only guarantee updates for a product for a year.

You mention that you’ve used Waves tools for decades… The updates we all pay for is what makes it possible to continually update this software. Waves doesn’t discontinue products – they service them for life. That service comes with a price, and it’s not even a lot.

Consider also the price of a Waves plugin… There are competitors whose plugins cost 5 to 7 times as much. And you STILL have to buy the upgrades to get the updates! But no one complains about those companies for some reason. It’s a double standard.

Your Waves plugins don’t stop working with your update plan expires. Only people who own Macs HAVE to upgrade (when they change OS), and that’s because the operating system changes so much. That’s really an Apple problem. Windows offers better compatibility with prior versions, so those of us on Windows only update when we feel it adds value.

Since you own a Mercury license, when you update you get all the added plugins for free (or as part of the update pricing, I mean.) I update my license through an authorized 3rd party seller during the 25% sale. If you do that every 3 years, you get all the updates plus it brings the cost of new plugins to under $20 each!!!

How is that a bad deal? It’s actually amazing.

Plus with Waves you get something that people take for granted… Consistency, stability, and the long term reliability that was already mentioned.

There is a ton of competition in the marketplace. There’s a certain other company that offers a very good subscription deal with a competitive number of products. However, those products don’t even come close to the consistency and stability and general bug-free nature of Waves products.

Quality comes with a price. I would implore you to slow down on your Waves updates until you feel there’s more value. They add plugins to Mercury specifically to add value. It’s part of what you get when you update.

And watch for the 25% off sales, they happen quarterly or so. And try going through an authorized reseller like EveryPlugin as one example.

But just remember, is costs money to have this kind of quality. And Waves is in a category of its own. There’s a sweeping wave of entitlement that is coming across everyone, where people expect other people to give them things for free, forever. It’s not healthy.

Do you do this professionally? When you mix or master do you give the person lifetime free updates, so every time tastes or loudness standards change you do free revisions? Of course not.

I’m not trying to deny the hostility you feel - I’m asking you to rethink it in the context of the marketplace. Waves was wrong to go ‘subscription only’ but they backed off that, and they even rewarded people whose update plans expired(!) with a major update to Scheps Omni Channel. They didn’t say it was an apology, but as a customer it felt like one.

Then I got WUP and got the glorious Magma Springs reverb and a number of other tools and updates! It’s worth it, man. And if it’s not? Just wait 2 or 3 years until it is. Waves doesn’t penalize you. A WUP purchase is a “catch up to current.” That’s very different from a subscription, by the way. It’s like how Bitwig does it. And no one gives them a hard time…

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You are entitled to your point of view. However, unless you have owned this for years and paid WUP every year, you simply benefit from the easy path now. I bought the subscription the UAD Spark, instead of updating Waves. Then I decided to buy the entire Fabfilter and iZotope suites.

If WUP gave me ALL plugins that are in the subscription, then maybe it wouldn’t ■■■■ as much…but it doesnt.

I simply still feel cheated after all this time. Anyone off the street can now have everything Waves for the cost of WUP. They dont have to pay the price many of us long term customers paid for admission. If I had subscriptions back 15 years ago, I still wouldn’t have come close to my cash outlay…then a decade or whatever its been since WUP started. Money was worth alot more 15+ years ago. So the real cost is even higher.

Unfortunately, I bought a second mercury before they offered a second license. I bought my first Mercury before there was WUP, and it was supposed to always have every new plugin and version. Then came Abbey stuff… I ended up buying that outright, too. Waves back-pedals on that Mercury was supposed to be the “everything” bundle. My Version 14 WUP expired about 2 weeks before they released v15. It’s probably the catalyst for ripping the scab off this old nerve.

I own many VST & plugin libraries. I guess I don’t own them either as its a matter of time before they pull similar stunt. VSL is pulling that stunt for the VI libraries. I invested thousands in those a decade ago. Now they are killing them off with a push to upgrade to Syncron version, but at a hefty cost. So, I uninstalled them too. Cleared up over 600GB of space on my sample drive.

Yes, I have worked in a professional studio, ran my own project studio, and live sound for years. Currently, it’s just a hobby with occasional studio projects I take on. However, my professional status doesn’t make or break my argument.

Your comparison to remastering isn’t remotely related. A mix/master is a point in time end product. To remaster would be a new product. Plugin engines need to stay current with OS. That is part of the business they are in. It’s not the way business in music productions work. A song is a work of art.

I was once a huge Waves fanboy. Even pitched LV1 rigs to several large venues that I ran live sound for. Now, I am glad they stayed with hardware mixers.

Anyway…I am done. I said my piece for the last time. It is always falling on deaf ears and no one cares if I am disgruntled about it (like many others) or not. Dishonor is the way of the world now. Trust is a fools game. I am old enough to remember when things were different.

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Its a shame Waves has done that - we all paid for plugins thinking its a lifetime licences (if I d know it is gonna be subscritption Id never biught them) … Waves plugins are very original , I really like some of them, but I stopped using Waves plugins in new sessions because it is not honest to do it that I have to pay every year for the same plugins. I would buy all new comers with pleasure, I would pay for great presets,
but The Way It Is Now IT IS A SHAME !

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Hi @agabriel3005,

Welcome to the Waves Forum and thank you for your feedback.

You can choose between the Waves Creative Access or perpetual licenses path.

There’s no obligation to update your plugins annually. As long as the licenses you own are supported and compatible with your setup, including your OS and DAW version, your Waves products will continue to work even if your Waves Update Plan has expired.

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I know it is no obligatory, but all systems changes so fast that without Updating I often come across problems with only waves plugins in my whole plugins setup … it’s really annoying

czw., 9 sty 2025, 07:33 użytkownik Adi Waves via Waves Community Forum <notifications@waves.discoursemail.com> napisał:

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It’s a different world now than it was 10 years ago. So many more developers, so many more plugins, more DAWs, more users. The speed and frequency of updates in OSes and DAW are only compounding issues with many fixes requiring us to spend more money with one developer or the other. Thats if we don’t have to invest in a new system!!

It’s happening everywhere all the time, it’s hard to keep up. It’s a modern issue we all experience, Waves its just the tip of the iceberg.

As with anything, modern issues can offer require modern solutions. Since I was so sick and tired of all this chaos I decided to give subscription a try. At least to test it, see if it made anything better. For me it did.

What becomes clear is even if we “own” a plugin it’s only really valid for a few years before we are forced to pay for an upgrade because of compatibility issues. Or maybe its the new features that draw is in. We find ourselves paying more and more money with every plugin we own.

We become a slave to the system. “Owning it” doesn’t change the nature of the problem. We’re just under the “illusion” that it does.

I personally found that subscribing frees us from all this chaos. We’re only paying the money we would normally pay, we just no longer have to worry about all the updates and keeping things future-proof. We also don’t have to worry about finding the money for they plugins that will help streamline our workflow, keep us relevant in changing world or simply pique our interest.

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I dunno, not been here for a while and come back and its all gone mad??! Been out of music Waves and WUP for a year or 2 and just getting back into things and moving from Intel to a Silicon M4 which is saying my plugins are not supported (not surprising) so looking for refreshing all my WUP and getting on with my life.
Then see subscription announcements and retractions?!!

Adi, I appreciate they are saying they support both side by side but is there any commitment from Waves to keep the WUP and perpetual for a sensible period of time .. in years or decades?
Having 2 charging models doesn’t seem to make alot of sense for a company so is this just temporary?
Probably get WUP anyway but subscription all over the site does concern me! I don’t make money from music so its really just cause Ive always loved using Waves. I don’t have issue that others can get all of them for a monthly fee but I really want the perpetual plugins I’ve paid for.

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A while ago the went subscription only and that made ALOT of users very mad.

Never mind that they introduced StudioVerse at the same time and were just trying to put their plugins in the hands of everyone so they can take advantage of it. People completely missed the reasoning behind it, only saw red and immediately jumped on their social media jump box. Not a very intelligent or perceptive bunch, most of them.

Suffice to say, it took Waves quite a while recovering from all the related negative publicity. I actually feel confident in saying they won’t be trying the subscription only model in a LONG time. The world whole have needed to move on by then.

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The capped WUP price is slightly more than the Ultimate subscription. Even when I was trying to cut my costs, I still found I was doing the WUP every two years, which at best is a 50% cost reduction (and I’d lose my second licenses for half of that time). I’m not making enough money from mixing to cover what I’ve sent to Waves over the years, but the subscription likely works out as a better deal most of the time.

That said, I really appreciate that I can also have a perpetual plugin installed on a third machine. You won’t catch me paying for a second subscription, but I might keep a couple of utility plugins updated individually.

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