Perpetual VS. Annual Subscription of AutoCAD

[Terratek]

I am trying to decide whether to buy a perpetual license of Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite Premium or go the annual subscription route, considering this the last time that perpetual licenses will be available. My company is just starting out and we have an 08 version of Civil 3D but it is no longer acceptable. Based on the pricing, it would take 3 years for the perpetual licence to become more affordable than the annual subscription, and a significant savings every year thereafter. However, I am also concerned that we may need to upgrade in three years just to stay current. If that is the case, I'd rather spend the smaller initial outlay on the annual subscription.

For those of you who use CAD products (particularly Civil 3D and Revit) how often you upgrade these software systems?

 

[HuntPA]

We upgrade every other year as a general year unless the newest version has something of major interest to us over the current year. Once you are on subscription, you can download the newest version when it comes out.

 

[BUGGAR]

Once you are on subscription, you are married.

 

[mcgyvr]

We do the perpetual license + subscription and we upgrade yearly (only really because I can )
Perpetual + subscription is more cost effective in the long run if you intend to want upgrades.

With my current software package I will save approx $15,000 over 10 years by staying perpet+sub