Vimeo Can Decide To Change Your Plan and Force You to Pay 5x More

Vimeo users probably believe they are the right people to determine what type of account they need. Vimeo disagrees and has begun switching some users to a new, significantly more expensive subscription tier at its own discretion.

As is increasingly the case with subscriptions these days, Vimeo’s offerings aren’t all that clear-cut. There are Starter, Standard, and Advanced offerings for “Individuals,” each with reasonably straightforward pricing and features. But then there’s “Enterprise,” which doesn’t have a price at all and requires customers to talk to Vimeo directly to settle on a price. A third tier, “Studio,” is rolling out now for $400 a month. It’s not directly available for purchase, though.

This new Studio subscription came to PetaPixel‘s attention because of a discussion on Threads, the origin of which has since been deleted for factual inaccuracies, about a huge Vimeo price hike. While some details weren’t quite correct, the basic complaint was: Vimeo determined the user was no longer eligible for an individual plan and needed to be moved to the new, much pricier Studio tier.

Advanced, which includes support for 10 users and 7TB of storage, is $75 per month when billed as part of an annual subscription. It has a customizable, branded video player, third-party player support, custom watermarking, branded galleries, calls to action, DVR streaming, streaming, events and chat, advanced analytics, and more.

Vimeo’s Studio plan is built for small-to-mid-sized businesses, agencies, and teams that rely on video as part of their core business operations. It includes 10TB of storage, 36TB of bandwidth, 10 seats with expansion options for team members, and AI video tools without using dedicated credits. A full breakdown is available here. It’s $400 per month when billed annually.

The jump from $900 a year to $4,800 per year is substantial, and this huge swing is enough to upset any small business’s bottom line.

Customers can be reclassified as “Studio” users at any point. Vimeo makes that determination, not the customer.

“Studio is our standard business plan, designed to serve the needs of most companies. Customers required to be on Studio have accounts with characteristics that classify them as a business user under our Plan Usage Policy this applies to less than 10% of paying customers,” Rebecca Shamritsky, PR & Communications at Vimeo’s owner, Bending Spoons, tells PetaPixel.

“These accounts are required to be on the Studio plan regardless of seat count. The 10-seat limit on Advanced is a cap on seats, not a definition of who qualifies as a business,” Shamritsky continues.

Shamritsky adds that the 10-seat limit on the Advanced plan is relevant for organizations that, based on their usage, are still eligible for one of Vimeo’s three Individual plans. These plans also work for professionals who are not part of a company.

“Customers identified for the Studio plan are notified via email 30 days ahead of their renewal, at which time they can see all the relevant information about Studio at this page,” Shamritsky adds.

The Studio plan is not yet available for new users to select for themselves. Vimeo is rolling it out to existing users first, including some who have been very vocal about sudden price hikes on social media.

Shamritsky says any customers who think they have been unfairly classified into the Studio tier should reach out to Vimeo’s customer support team. If, after review, an account is still eligible for an Individual plan, Vimeo will let customers stick with their current option.

It’s hard not to consider the Bending Spoons of it all. The company, known for slashing and burning the platforms it buys, went public recently, and now has shareholders to answer to. A very reliable way to increase revenue is to charge more for a product or service. Supposing that for every 10 Advanced subscribers who get reclassified into Studio, half of them bail out on Vimeo entirely, that’s still over five times more revenue for Vimeo. In fact, only two of those affected customers need to stick around to make it worth Vimeo’s while.

Of course, some users who received an email about their Vimeo plan going from at most $75 per month to $400 are taken aback. It’s a massive price change. Affected users are certainly encouraged to weigh all their options and reach out to Vimeo directly if they believe they have been unfairly characterized.

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Image creditsVimeo. Header photo created using an asset licensed via Depositphotos.com.