ActivePresenter Free vs. Paid Version Comparison: Purpose, Feature, and Price
What are the differences between the free and paid versions (Standard and Pro) of ActivePresenter? In today’s article, let’s find out all about ActivePresenter Free, Standard, and Pro to wisely choose the suitable edition serving your needs.
What is ActivePresenter?
After years of development by the experienced and enthusiastic Atomi team, ActivePresenter has by now won a remarkable place among the famous eLearning authoring tools on the market. The software is well-known as an all-in-one solution when people want to find:
- An eLearning authoring tool to design high-quality interactive courses for school and workplace learning. It allows adding interactions, quizzes, clickable buttons, variables, and so many more things to create complete materials, assessments, and educational games.
- A screen recorder to record your computer screen, your voice, and your webcam at the same time or separately. It is also useful for anyone to build interactive software simulations with smart screen capture technology. And, all elements are easy to customize later.
- An editor to edit videos, images, slides, presentations, eLearning courses, audio tracks and more. From basic to advanced techniques, all are achievable in this software. And, the output formats are versatile like media (image and video), document (Word, Excel, PDF, PPT), HTML5, SCORM, xAPI, and so on.
With 3 editions provided (Free, Standard, and Pro), users can choose to pay or not to own the one that suits their purpose. So, how to decide which one is the most suitable? Answer these questions and you will find out the one.
- In what circumstances and by whom is each edition used?
- What are the differences in features among 3 editions?
- What is the pricing plan for each paid edition?
In What Circumstances and by Whom is Each Edition Used?
ActivePresenter Free Edition
To better make use of ActivePresenter, users have to clearly define the group of people that each edition aims to.
The Free edition is for personal & non-commercial use only. It is suitable when beginners want to try all features in an unlimited time. However, the outputs of non-free features will include the watermark until users activate the license. So, the outputs having no watermark can be used for a non-profit organization or an educational institution. Publishing to YouTube or other social media platforms is considered as non-commercial use providing that users don’t make videos for their products or for a company that they have connections with.
ActivePresenter Paid Editions
Meanwhile, the paid editions (Standard and Pro) are for commercial use.
- The Standard edition focuses on people who want to create high-quality videos or export the project to media and document outputs. So, if you are a software reviewer, a tutorial maker, an online trainer, a teacher, and so on, who just want to use video and document (Word, Excel, PPT, PDF) formats, ActivePresenter Standard is an ideal choice.
- The Pro edition is for any editor and content creator. Especially, for those who want to create engaging courses with interactive questions and quizzes in HTML5 output.
What are The Differences in Features among 3 Editions?
To help users better visualize the differences, let’s take a look at the feature comparison table as follows:
ActivePresenter Free Edition
The Free edition, as mentioned above, is fully functional as the paid ones. There are no restrictions on the trial time or function. So, you can download the app and experience it as long as you want to get familiar with it before purchasing. The difference here is the watermark is added to the output of advanced features that are exclusively designed for the Standard or Pro editions.
Simply understanding, you can use the Free edition to record the screen or import presentations. Then, create and edit your content with basic techniques such as Cut/Copy/Delete/Crop Range, Insert Time, Split & Join Audio/Videos, Change Speed, Adjust Volume, and Insert Closed Caption. Finally, export it to media (image/video) formats.
ActivePresenter Paid Editions
To totally design the content on your own, it’s time to purchase either the Standard or Pro license. The outputs of each edition now include no watermarks. However, there are features that only the Pro edition can fully achieve. So, what are they? Let us explain the table below:
As can be seen from the table, screen recording is the strong function as it appears in all 3 editions. Both Standard and Pro editions allow users to edit content with not only basic but also advanced techniques. Those advanced effects are Blur Videos, Green-screen Effect, Audio Noise Reduction, Audio Fade In/Out, and Audio Normalization. The Cloud Text-to-Speech feature is also included. This makes it quick and easy to add voice-over to your screencast and eLearning course. And, besides normal media formats, your project can now be exported to document formats like Word, Excel, PPT, and PDF.
However, when it comes to interactivity features for eLearning course design, the Pro edition is the optimal solution for you. This means that eLearning editing and exporting functions are not supported in the Standard license. You can not use Interaction Objects, 13 Interactive Questions, Responsive Design, Multiple Timelines, Object States, Variables, Events – Actions, and Conditions in the Standard edition. Also, exporting to HTML5, SCORM, and xAPI packages to upload the output to LMS, local servers, and websites can be done in the Pro edition only.
So, purchase the Pro edition to unlock all features and have a full experience!
What is the Pricing Plan for Each Paid Edition?
Currently, besides the Free edition, users can choose one among these 3 pricing plans from the Pricing site to purchase:
This price is a one-time cost for one perpetual license, not a monthly or yearly subscription. All purchased licenses and upgrades include 1 year of free upgrades, starting from the date of purchase.
After one year of the free upgrade, you just need to pay 40% of the full price to upgrade to the higher major version later on. So, in comparison to other authoring tools in the market, ActivePresenter is truly a great deal. And you can find details about the upgrade policy and refund policy directly from our Pricing site here.
Notice that the software is licensed per machine, so each purchased license can be activated on one machine at a time. Just simply manage your activation here.
About the discount programs, you can apply the volume discount based on the number of licenses you buy.
Or, you can own a Pro edition at EDU price, $199, if you are a student, teacher & staff, educational institution, or non-profit institution. Check your eligibility here for this discount program.
Final Words
Have you had the right answer for each question above? If you have, then you must have found a suitable edition for your use. Don’t hesitate to experience the Free trial first by downloading the app here. And, you can always find our support freely and widely on our YouTube, Tutorial page, User Community, and email at support@atomisystems.com.
Follow us on those channels now to not miss useful updates and tips for all content creators!
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