One of my new favorite tools, Sproutbuilder, recently changed its pricing structure (again!).  Whew!  In January, the Flash-based interactive module/widget/website/Swiss-army-knife announced that they would eliminate their free accounts altogether.  I certainly understand the need to stay afloat with a business model.  Two of my other favorite tools Zoho Creator and Weebly also launched new pricing structures about a year ago that limited their free accounts.  However, at the beginning of March, Sprout announced that they were going to offer a free account again.  The account is limited to 3 published or unpublished projects.  From the comments, it is evident that the user community felt like I did about the value of Sprout and the importance of a free version.

I think Sprout offers great potential for building small widgety Flash-based modules without any coding.  I did a test a few months ago by building a quick timer to use with a Think-Pair-Share activity for classroom or face-to-face training.  Here’s the link to Edusprouts, a blog that started collected educational sprouts but hasn’t been updated since the elimination of the free version.

I contacted the Sprout folks directly about what their plans were for students and educators.  Here’s the response I received from Joey Mucha, the Marketing Manager:

We will continue to offer free accounts that offers up to 3 projects which would be perfect for students.  To educators we are offering 50% off all levels.  If you want to create more than 3 projects you will need a paid account.  At 50% off we believe this is a great deal for Educators. I will send an email with a coupon code to redeem this pricing once the payment system launches.

While his is not the best accommodations for students and educators, it does offer some concessions.  I believe Sprout is really looking to define their niche and education I don’t believe is in the mix.  While I believe their marketing niche is a little small, I certainly understand the need to brand and be identified.  I also believe that they are listening to the community of users, though.  The reintroduction of the free plan is evidence of that.  Maybe better things are on the horizon as they navigate the 2.0 waters.  What’s your experience with Sprout?

Here are some previous posts that you may be interested in:

1. If you’re creating instruction for the Web, you better be doing these 4 things
2. The landscape of Powerpoint for elearning
3. eLearning and “Scooby-Doo! Where are you?”