Subscription vs Term Licence vs Bought Outright: Four Ways Robot Vendors Charge for Software

Over the past two weeks of pricing robot catalogues line by line, the same thing kept turning up in the parts list: software with a price tag on it, sitting on the shelf next to the grippers. Four vendors in four unrelated categories have now put a number on the code, and each has picked a different way to charge.

This is a comparison of those four models — not of the products. The question is narrow: if you buy the robot, what does the software cost you, when do you pay it, and can you find out before you sign?

The four models

The QYSEA figures were re-read at a US dealer on 9 August 2026. The OnRobot and Vention figures are our 4 August readings at Automation Distribution and on a published Vention design; the temi figures come from our 1 and 2 August readings. None of the four has moved in that window, but only the first was re-checked today.

Normalise it: software cost per year, against the hardware it runs on

A subscription price on its own says nothing. What matters is the ratio to the machine it attaches to, per year:

That is a fourteen-fold spread on the same question. QYMT is the extreme case: one year of the measurement software costs 92.3% of the cheapest robot the same dealer will sell you to run it on. Buy the entry E-GO and the software, and in year one you have spent more on the subscription than on the vehicle.

*Our view is not that QYSEA is overcharging.* QYMT does photogrammetric measurement, which is the actual deliverable on an inspection job — the ROV is the tripod. But a buyer sizing a budget from the hardware price will be out by nearly 100%, and nothing on the robot's product page warns them.

Where each model helps you and where it hurts

Recurring subscription (QYSEA). Cheapest way in, most expensive way to stay. Note the term structure: two consecutive six-month terms cost $7,998, so committing to the year saves 25.0%. Useful if the work is seasonal or project-based and you can genuinely switch it off between contracts. Punishing if the capability is core, because you are renting it forever.

Prepaid term licence (OnRobot). D:PLOY inverts the usual subscription logic: the longer the term, the cheaper the year. Ten years works out to $2,596.01/year against $3,172.90/year for three — an 18.2% saving for a decade of commitment. It also produces the strangest line in the OnRobot catalogue, where the ten-year licence at $25,960.10 costs 75% more than the priciest gripper on the same shelf. That is defensible if you know the cell will still be running in 2036. Most buyers do not.

Bought outright (Vention). Vention puts MachineApp - Palletizer in the cell's bill of materials at $17,476.37 and charges it once. On the FANUC versions of the same workstation, software totals $25,684.37, of which MachineMotion AI is $7,476.00 and a FANUC add-on bundle is $8,208.00. This is the most honest of the four, because the number appears in the configurator before you buy anything, and the highest sticker, because you pay it all on day one. It is also the only one of the four that a finance department can depreciate alongside the steel.

Unpriced and mandatory (temi). temi's own store states the purchase price "does not include TEMI CENTER PRO subscription," which is "purchased separately on the robot once you receive your robot." It does not say what it costs. Dealers fill the gap inconsistently: $1,850 per year at one, a $5,400 "lifetime" subscription at another. Those two are not variants of the same offer — the lifetime price pays for itself in 2.92 years, and it is 108% of the $4,999 robot it manages.

*Our view:* the pricing model is a legitimate design choice; not publishing the price is not. Everything else in this comparison can be budgeted from a public page. This one cannot be budgeted at all until the machine is already on site, which is the point at which the buyer has no leverage left.

The fifth model, for completeness

Robotiq does not sell an application subscription. It sells the labour instead, as a priced menu on the same distributor shelf: Startup Assistance at $11,578.13, on-site palletizing or screwdriving training at $2,636.25, a proof-of-concept at $2,636.25, four-hour courses at $1,309.22, and coaching by the hour at $320.63. Same problem — the cell will not run itself out of the crate — solved with people rather than a wizard. Worth pricing both ways before assuming the software route is cheaper.

How to buy against this

1. Ask for the software line in writing, with its term, before you compare hardware quotes. Two robots at the same price are not the same purchase if one carries a $5,999/year subscription.
2. Convert everything to cost per year over your real ownership horizon. Term licences and lifetime subscriptions only look expensive until you divide.
3. Ask what stops working when you stop paying. None of the four vendors states this clearly on a public page, and it is the single most important term in a subscription.
4. Treat an unpublished subscription price as a risk line, not a blank. Put a placeholder in the budget at the dealer figure and confirm it before the robot ships.

For the underlying catalogue prices behind this comparison, see our OnRobot gripper price guide, QYSEA FIFISH ROV price guide, Vention robot cell price guide and temi robot price guide. Category page: collaborative robots.

Sources

• UrbanDrones QYSEA catalogue, QYMT AI Underwater Measurement System and FIFISH E-GO listings (re-read 9 August 2026) — https://www.urbandrones.com/products.json
• Automation Distribution, OnRobot catalogue including D:PLOY licence tiers and Robotiq services (read 4 August 2026) — https://www.automationdistribution.com/onrobot/ and https://www.automationdistribution.com/robotiq/
• Vention, FANUC CRX machine-tending workstation with itemised bill of materials — https://vention.com/designs/fanuc-crx-machine-tending-workstation-with-flat-tray-139016
• temibots.com store terms on TEMI CENTER PRO (read 1 August 2026) — https://temibots.com/
• GrabaRobot, *Cobot Payload Class Price Curve 2026* (UR5e listed at $39,083.16-43,544.43 by the same distributor, 28 July 2026 reading) — https://www.grabarobot.com/blog/cobot-payload-class-price-curve-2026/

Limitations. Prices are dealer listings read on the dates stated, not manufacturer list prices, and only the QYSEA figures were re-verified on the day of publication. The percentage table pairs each piece of software with one specific machine at one specific dealer; a different hardware choice moves every ratio. We have not seen any of the four licence agreements, so what happens to a stopped subscription is stated as unknown rather than assumed.