Ning Update: Introducing Ning Pro, Ning Plus and Ning Mini

[Eric Suesz]

Our CEO, Jason Rosenthal, just posted a blog post about our upcoming plans and pricing. I thought I would reprint it here for Creators. 

"I’m excited to introduce three new versions of the Ning Service that we will roll out in July. When we announced two weeks ago that we were going to refocus on paying Ning Networks and phase out our free service, we knew there would be many questions about what the new Ning would look like. Our goal with these offerings — as explained below — is to enhance the experience Network Creators have on Ning, and by extension, the experiences your members have as well. 

What will we be rolling out in July? We’ll start with many of the things Network Creators have been asking for and extend the service from there. The end of Ning promotional links, leading to a more customized, branded experience for you and your members. An ad free experience and the option to run your own ads — if you like. Easy content export and back-up. The end of Ning ID and ability to add Facebook and Twitter sign-in. API access for a more integrated experience. The ability to charge for membership and accept donations. We’ve listened to your more frequent and pressing requests and combined them with our current premium services into three new product offerings — Ning Pro, Ning Plus and Ning Mini.

For full comparison of the three plans, click here.

Our pricing plans offer incredible value relative to our current Premium Services. For example, your Ning Network currently has the option to Use Your Own Domain, Remove Create Links, and Run Your Own Ads. You can take advantage of all of these services for about $55/month right now. With the Ning Plus, you’ll be able to have them all for $19.95/month. We will also offer current Network Creators a one-time annual pricing discount that provides even greater value.

We also recognize that many small non-profit, family or other small group Ning Networks have limited budgets, and we value what you’ve created on Ning. For $2.95/month or $19.95/year, Ning Mini provides a powerful set of features to continue to grow and engage with your members — ad-free or with your own ads.

We’ve also heard from many Network Creators who use Ning in the classroom as an integral part of their curriculum. I am particularly excited to announce that a major education company will be sponsoring Ning Mini Networks for educators in primary and secondary education. Ning will remain free for K-12 educators and their students. We’ll have details on this program soon!

We will roll out Ning Pro, Ning Plus and Ning mini in July. Current Network Creators will have 30 days following the roll-out to decide which plan best fits their needs. For Ning Creators using our free service who choose to move to another service, we will offer a simple way to export all of your content.

We know there’s a lot of questions, including how to choose a plan, when you can sign up and what happens if you don’t choose an option. That’s why we’ve created a place with all the details about this new offering, including details, a timeline and FAQs (also available in Spanish, here). I look forward to your feedback, both in the comments below and on Creators."

[Tatu Saloranta]

Where did you read that? That sounds extremely unlikely, considering how much people dislike having to pay for stuff they think can be gotten free (since there are alternatives that seem similar, and that are free). I don't know what the real ratio is, but it would seem more likely to be 7% than 70%.

[Fred]

Steve, I do not believe all or nothing, but Ning said so, Let them proof they are right so they have to reduce the price for non commercial Ningsites, so for now let's go on with this needless time eating discussion, it is cold here in the Netherlands, so I have Time :)

[Star-Dust]

l never paid, but l am going too. l think we all have that choice. l will try Ning out and like l said, l have one who already made 100.00 towards my site. So may be some will donate a dollar here and there. That is what life is about, we take our choices and move ahead, It is Pay or Leave.

[Monique]

I'm not a webmaster or developer, some of these question will be second nature to others but I just want to be clear on what's provided with each plan....

What is "plus the API access" exactly? What will I able to do with this?

Sign-in with Facebook, Twitter or your own authentication system (a.k.a. single sign-in). My own authentication system, What does this mean, is it saying I could implement disqus.com so anyone can comment on my blog post?

Any changes to chat?

Any feature to rank members base on activities?

What is Custom network ID, what will I able to do with this?

Whats Domain mapping, is this the option to change from mysite.ning.com to mysite.com instead of forwarding from mysite.com to mysite.ning.com?

What is this "Remove Ning branding and links"? When networks are down, will network creator see error message stating to create a network?

What is Language filter, is this a way to block some words from the network?

[Eric Suesz]

Whew. That is a lot of questions, Monique! You may want to start a new discussion for all those.

[Diana]

The storage and bandwidth limits apply to photos, videos and music uploaded to Ning....so, Eric, if we only embed these things it will save storage? Now in regard to the 19.95 one, what about this....how many widgets, embeds will be allowed per text box? Ning changed this to one before due to slowing down the network...and also, how many text boxes will be available?

Thank you Eric for seeing us through these couple of weeks :)!

one more question, can I pay using a prepaid cc for like a whole year or every six months? pretty please? Thank you in advance :) :) :)

[Eric Suesz]

Hey, Diana! If you embed videos, they won't take up any space at all. There's some Text Box info on the pricing page. It will continue to be one widget per Text Box. Sorry; no six month option for pricing!

[Monique]

OK...will do? thanks....The new Ning looks impressive and promising.

[Vickie]

I have been asking the same questions as Monique for a couple of weeks now and none have been addressed.

[celina[D]]

My network is called open-minded.ning.com at this moment.
With the new Ning it would become open-minded.com right?
However that domain is not available anymore so how is Ning dealing with that problem?

[EAM]

That is not a ning problem - that is a problem you need to resolve by finding a domain name that is actually available. If you are a non profit or edu consider:

open-minded.edu
open-minded.org
open-minded.net

I imagine with that name though you may have a tough time because it is probably a fairly common request for a domain name...

ning does not manage domain registration - their domain is ning.com (you have been on a subdomain of ning.com until now)

hope that helps...

[Star-Dust]

Language filter will help stop some pretty bad words, and that will help protect you and your members. l have many questions and l guess l will get someone here or on Jen's site to help me do what has to be done.