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."

[Gina Krupsky]

My ning group is based on video and I have an account on Vimeo and one on Youtube and embed all the video that way. That's another option to keep video free. It's actually driven a lot of new traffic to my ning group too because not everyone knows about my group but when they search Youtube or Vimeo, they find me that way.

I understand what you're saying, I am just throwing out an option to help anyone save money who doesn't want to upgrade to Premium but who still needs video.

[Sandy]

I was thinking the same thing. If I really want to use video I can just use the embed feature of those sites.

I think all in all Ning has made a great move. People will always find something to complain about because it is hard to compete with free!

But if you're serious and want to make money, you have to spend some money!

[Rev. Pamela Provost DD]

And you donated how much to charity last year in terms of dollars and time?

[Robin]

Hey Gina, I would love to see how this works! Where can I view that option?

[Gina Krupsky]

Check out my ning site here:
http://www.stamptv.ning.com

I have all of my videos embedded and then I put the main epsiodes of the week on the main page too. It's pretty slick and having them on both Vimeo and Youtube is a great back up in case the site goes down for a little while.

[Robin]

Thanks! I will check this out :)

[Kristy]

I do the same, and I altered the wording on the site's video upload to make it clear that embedding from the group account or elsewhere is very much preferred. Removing that option altogether actually makes things a bit easier for me.

[Gina Krupsky]

It actually saves you money because you don't need the extra bandwidth. :)

[Kyle R.]

Looks great, Can you still get extra bandwidth as needed? We have a video project that could eat space.

[John McDonald]

Kyle,

Yes. With the Ning Pro plan, you will be able to purchase additional storage and bandwidth.

thanks,
John

[Lisa Samples]

what bandwidth do we all get now?

[Karenne Sylvester]

Looks really FANTASTIC, thanks so much - however would it ALSO be possible to have a

Ning Trialwhich is available for free (say for 30 days or so)

as I train educators on using Ning I'd like to set up "trial" sites which I can delete afterwards as well as also give them the option of making their own "trial" sites to show students/ find out if their students like them etc... before they move on to choosing one of the options as above.

Anyway, really, I have to say thank you so much - I have a site which I pay for with one group and then I have a group of educators and the Mini will be perfect for us.

:-)

Karenne Sylvester
http://beltfree.ning.com