Welcome (Back) MODX Cloud!

After careful consideration, MODX Cloud is back as a part of the core MODX business. We are making changes that will distill MODX Cloud to it's purest value. Read the rest of the post to see what all is changing—we hope you'll like it.

By The MODX Team  |  July 25, 2013  |  4 min read
Welcome (Back) MODX Cloud!

The last year of focusing on the Community and upcoming software releases has taught everyone at MODX a lot. MODX is a great platform that truly delivers on the promise of creative freedom. An awesome, caring and growing Community has enthusiastically embraced MODX, and it is further supported by a strong ecosystem with both commercial support and talented developers worldwide.

The upcoming 2.3 release feels so much more than a minor point bump—it should accelerate MODX awareness and adoption even further and faster. And more than ever before, external contributors are pitching-in. After 8+ years of exploration, we have hit our stride, big time.

Lessons Learned

However, part of our learning process led to a conclusion that it is time for a strategic shift. After much consideration and with gratitude for the amazing platform SiphonLabs created, on July 4th the final call was made to move forward with its operations being reintegrated into the MODX team. Since then, we’ve dug deep into the platform and operations, and determined some key changes required for it to continue to thrive and improve.

Effective today, we are moving forward with the original vision of MODX Cloud—the ultimate way to start, build, migrate and maintain MODX projects. This is the only structure that meshes with our experience and bandwidth. It’s also the only way forward to be true to our purpose of helping people have amazing experiences on the web.

Immediate Changes

MODX Cloud is being distilled to its purest value. For example, rather than competing with every host on the planet, we will partner with others for production endpoints, joining the other awesome launch partners who have are already committed. (If you're a host and are interested, please get in touch.) This will give MODX Cloud the global footprint its thousands of users want exponentially faster, especially as we near the 5-figure signups count.

For now, annual subscriptions will no longer be offered; streamlined plans will also launch soon that are simple and fair for everyone. These new plans will not include production Clouds—our production hosting partners have the deep support teams, experience and local infrastructure required for production environments. We’ll also add alternate payment methods if you don’t have a credit card, making MODX Cloud convenient for users in Europe, Russia and elsewhere.

Existing plans will be grandfathered, or we’ll help you migrate to new production hosts and MODX Cloud plans. If you currently have production sites, those won't go away. If you have the ability in your current plan to buy/add production sites, that won't go away either. Freemium Lab plans as they stand today will likewise be temporarily on hold until we launch MODX University sometime later—get one quick if you want one!

WordPress production Clouds are being retired, but WP Dev Clouds will remain available as an unsupported migration tool. And finally SiphonLabs.com is being put on the shelf. MODX simply does not have the resources or experience to serve two masters well—so we won’t.

Helping You Crush It Moving Forward

MODX wants to see you crush it. We want to create tools like MODX Cloud that give you a competitive advantage and that generate revenues which directly fund ongoing development of the MODX software and ecosystem at large. MODX Cloud may not be appropriate for everyone, but it certainly fulfills a need for tens of thousands of web professionals that wish to focus on building their business instead of managing complex infrastructure and workflow.

So in summary, here’s where MODX Cloud stands:

  • The MODX ecosystem is thriving and is the right home for MODX Cloud
  • New Annual Plans are already gone, existing ones are grandfathered until expiration
  • New Dev-only plans coming
  • More ways to pay, including Paypal and non-credit card alternatives coming
  • Existing users are grandfathered in with what they have today
  • WordPress production Clouds and free Lab accounts are shelved for now
  • WordPress in Dev Clouds will remain available as a migration/testing tool
  • You’ll be able to “export” your projects to proven hosts for production endpoints
  • SiphonLabs.com and branding will be retired

Welcome (back) MODX Cloud!