The Perpetual CRM License Is Dying: What to Do
TL;DR: Two of the classic contact-management vendors have now closed the buy-once door: Act! retired Act! Pro in September 2023, and Germany's cobra stopped selling ADRESS PLUS to new customers on 1 January 2026; it has been rental only since 2022, and the official successor is the cloud product cobra One. If you want to own your CRM rather than rent it, the shelf is smaller but it still exists: DejaOffice (from $69.95), CRM in Excel ($50), the free but abandoned OfflineCRM.
This is not a conspiracy; it is arithmetic. Recurring revenue is worth more to a vendor than a single sale, and investors pay for predictability. The problem is that the arithmetic runs the other way for a one-person business: you pay every month, forever, for a table of contacts you could own outright. Disclosure: CRM in Excel is our product, and it is sold once.
What actually changed
Act! ended its last perpetual edition, Act! Pro, on 15 September 2023. Existing installations keep running; there is no new license to buy.
cobra, a long-standing German contact-management vendor, stopped selling ADRESS PLUS to new customers on 1 January 2026. It has been sold on a rental model since 2022, today at 19 to 23 € per user per month, where customers had previously paid single-digit euro amounts per license. Dealers were notified in early December 2025. (Prices as published by the vendor; check cobra's price page for the current terms.)
What to do if this happened to you
- Export now, decide later. While your license is still valid, pull a full CSV export: contacts, notes, activities. Do not negotiate from a position where your data is hostage.
- Count what you actually use. Most people using a classic contact manager use contacts, notes, a calendar and follow-ups. If that is you, you do not need a platform; you need a replacement for four features.
- Check the upgrade fine print of whatever you buy next. "One-time" can still mean paid major versions. Ask what year three costs.
What is left on the buy-once shelf in 2026
| Tool | Price | What it is | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| DejaOffice PC CRM | from $69.95 one-time | Classic Windows desktop CRM: the closest thing to the old Act! | Dated interface; paid major upgrades |
| CRM in Excel (our product) | $50 one-time | A CRM application built inside Excel: contacts, 14 contact statuses, follow-up reminders, templates | One user; Windows + desktop Excel; no automation or integrations |
| OfflineCRM | Free | Standalone desktop app, local data | Abandoned (last release 2021); export your data |
Those vendor prices were read on 16 August 2026 from the sellers' own pages and can move without warning. Ours is set in one base currency and converted live, so the product page always shows what you would pay today, in your money. Sources: DejaOffice, OfflineCRM. And if buying anything outright is off the table this quarter, the free Excel file stays free permanently, on the understanding that it is the plain one: a single database, 1,000 contacts, seven statuses, English only.
The honest counter-argument
If the subscription genuinely automates work for you (forms creating deals, sequences running while you sleep, a team sharing one pipeline, or a working day that happens mostly on your phone), then paying monthly is the correct decision and the vendors are not robbing you. The people harmed by this shift are the ones who used a contact manager as a contact manager: a file of people, notes and dates. For them, the monthly bill buys nothing new at all.
Our answer to that group is CRM in Excel: the same daily routine (who to call today, what did we agree, send the message), in a file you own outright: one payment, offline. Before buying you can take the free file: 1,000 contacts, no email. The full market view is in CRMs without a subscription, and the Act!-specific migration path is in Act! alternatives with a one-time license. Would you buy a perpetual licence sight unseen? Ours you can examine first, screen by screen, though the sample file stays locked against edits.
FAQ
Can you still buy a CRM license outright in 2026?
Yes: DejaOffice (from $69.95), CRM in Excel ($50, and the code startingOut takes 20% off; checkout shows your own currency), the free but abandoned OfflineCRM. Act! and cobra have closed that door.
Why are software vendors killing perpetual licenses?
Recurring revenue is worth more and is predictable for investors. Legitimate, just not in your interest.
What happens to my data if I refuse to move to a subscription?
Your installation usually keeps working, but with no new licenses or upgrades. Export your data while the license is valid.
Is a one-time CRM really cheaper?
Over three years, almost always, unless you genuinely use what the subscription automates.
Michał B. Fedor