As we close out 2024 and step into the New Year, it’s a perfect moment to reflect on the incredible...
It’s been some time since our last update and 2024 has been an absolute whirlwind so far (for everyone, I’m sure). Even though it’s not the end of the year yet, we want to provide a few key updates.
We’ve hit a number of really exciting (to us) milestones:
None of this would be possible without all of you, Bruno’s users and fans! ♥️
The feedback, exploration, and of course usage is what drives us forward. We can’t thank you enough for it and are honored to continue to build what is truly becoming the best (and we would argue at the point, the only) pure API Client.
There’s another group this wouldn’t have been possible without though, and that’s our growing team. We started 2024 with just me :), and now we’re a ‘colossal’ powerhouse of nine. This is a really important piece of the update and the ongoing legacy of Bruno.
A Revelation
If I had to choose a single revelation over these past 11 months, it is the fact that there’s simply no way Bruno can support all of you (100’s of thousands of users) without a strong team building and supporting the product.
There’s no hiding from it, if you look at our GitHub, Discord, or email we were failing you in many areas. Hopefully, in the past ~30 days you’ve started to see a difference in our responsiveness and execution. This is a trend that will continue to improve.
Our commitment is to build the best API Client ever, be obsessively developer-first, and to help our users (both free and paid) be successful. This means being on top of your feedback, questions, and support issues.
So where is all this going? :)
Product Changes
We’re making changes to the product to be true to our commitments above.
The first change is….
🤯 🎉 🎉 PUTTING MORE IN OPEN SOURCE! 🤯 🎉 🎉
If we’re going to be obsessively developer-first, we feel fundamental API Client functionality should be in the Open Source version of Bruno.
Previously, we planned had planned to release the following features into our commercial versions:
- GRPC
- Websocket
- SocketIO
- MQTT
- Global Environments
- Custom Themes
All of these items fit into how we define ‘fundamental’ - core capabilities that block you from otherwise using an API Client. Ok ok, Custom Themes don’t block you from using Bruno but it’s just too cool not to make it free 😎 .
Directly connected to this is the second change…
Since we’re aiming to make open source more feature-rich, we’re going to change the packaging of our commercial offerings.
We previously had 3 paid plans that are the path to sustainability for the company. One of those was “Golden Edition for Individuals”. Our thought was that we would monetize features similar to the above (protocols, basic API client functionality, etc) and that individuals would purchase these plans. It was also another way to show your support for Bruno.
What we realized is that:
- If we’re moving these basic features into Open Source, this plan won’t be needed in the future
- The majority of the “Golden Edition for Individuals” licenses were from organizations, which was not the design and is not sustainable
- There’s tax implication and complication to selling both to individuals and organizations. At our size this isn’t sustainable.
Additionally, on our ‘For Organizations’ licenses, we received a ton of feedback that it was confusing to provide both a perpetual (Golden) and subscription (Ultimate) license. There’s not a lot of companies still offering perpetual licenses, systems aren’t set up to manage it, and frankly it adds additional complexity on our end when we need to be focused on building the product.
For these reasons, we are going to sunset the ‘Golden Edition’ plans and moving forward we will have just two plans that are both annual subscriptions:
- Pro
- Ultimate
** This has no effect on existing Golden Edition Users! You will continue to receive maintenance and updates for 2-years and of course have access to the Golden Edition features perpetually**
Again, our sole goal is to be able to adequately support all of you (100’s of thousands of users) and make sure Bruno is a sustainable company with long-term staying power. In order to do this, we need to make an adjustment to the pricing to better reflect the cost of running Bruno.
- Pro will be $6/month billed annually ($72/year)
- Ultimate will be $11/month billed annually ($132/year)
We’re sure there will be a number of questions related to Golden Edition for Individuals, so we’ve compiled them below but of course are here to answer anything else via email, Discord, or any other way you’d like to chat.
Why We Did This
It really was like someone shook me by the shoulders upon realizing how big Bruno was becoming. Perhaps we should have seen this coming as the primary tool people come to Bruno from has over 1,500 employees and 30 million users, but there is simply no way we can support you correctly unless we grow our team and transform into an Open Source Company.
All of our same convictions remain:
- We’re not going to build a bloated tool
- There’s no reason, want, or interest for us to make some sort of cloud syncing component
- We don’t believe that the company mentioned above needs 1,500+ employees (but it definitely needs more than 9 🙂 )
So rest assured that we’re the same Bruno you’ve always loved, we’ve just grown up. The reality is if we didn’t make these changes, we likely wouldn’t be around a year from now. Either we wouldn’t have been able to sustain the company, or you all would have been so frustrated that you’d stop using the tool.
We are going to build the best API client, be obsessively developer-first, and ensure we’re properly supporting all of our users both free and paid. That is our unwavering commitment to you. ♥️
Potential Questions For Golden Edition Plans
We’ve tried to compile some potential questions related to the Golden Edition changes below. If you have any questions, the best way to reach out is support@usebruno.com (we’ll respond within a few hours).
I was about to purchase a Golden Edition for Individuals license - I’m not happy about the new price…
We realize how that must feel. Although we saw mostly companies purchasing ‘for Individuals’ licenses, we know there were individuals doing this as well. We feel we’ve kept the cost on the licenses extremely low (less expensive than any other tool and less per month than most cups of coffee these days), but from now until December 31st 2024, individuals can purchase a Pro license for $49/year. Just send an email to sales@usebruno.com.
I’ve already purchased a Golden Edition for Individuals license - do I need to do anything?
Not if you don’t want to! You’ve purchased a perpetual license with maintenance and support for 2-years. You’ll continue to receive that, and then of course have perpetual access to all Golden Edition Features.
I’ve already purchased a Golden Edition for Individuals license - what new features can I expect?
The upcoming features that were planned for Golden Edition for Individuals are largely going into the open source version of the product. We’ll continue to improve the features that are already in the license, but moving forward we want to put additional functionality that is part of a core API client into open source. Pro and Ultimate will be aimed at features that are impactful for professionals, teams and organizations.
My company purchased a Golden Edition for Organizations license - do I need to do anything?
Not if you don’t want to! You’ve purchased a perpetual license with maintenance and support for 2-years. You’ll continue to receive that, and then of course have perpetual access to all Golden Edition Features.
My company purchased Golden Edition for Organizations licenses - can we continue to add more licenses?
Yes! More licenses can be added to an existing account until March 31st 2025. After that, we won’t be able to support adding licenses to that plan. If you want to transition to a Pro plan before December 31st 2024, we have a couple of options available. Please email sales@usebruno.com or click the button below.
How is Bruno?
He’s Great!
But really, if you’ve stayed this long, and even read through the questions, we want to reiterate how much you mean to us. We realize changes like this cause feelings to pop up around what may happen next, but we’re truly the same Bruno. We made these changes to make sure we can support you for the long run and continue delivering the best API Client.
