Is RWS no longer selling permanent licences for Trados Studio (2026)?

I'm a bit confused about the pricing for the new Trados Studio 2026. There's a bunch of stuff on the website about subscriptions, but I don't want a subscription. I think this would be the only one I would be interested in (see below).

Screenshot of the Trados pricing page for freelance translators, showing options for Trados Go and Trados Freelance with monthly and annual pricing details.

For context:

Going back in time:

  • on 16-Jul-2024, I paid £534.00 to "Upgrade from Trados Studio 2022 Freelance Plus to Trados Studio 2024 Freelance Plus"
  • on 04-May-2022, I paid £168 to "Upgrade from Trados Studio 2021 Freelance Plus to Trados Studio 2022 Freelance Plus"
  • on 24-Sep-2020, I paid £235.95, to "Upgrade from Trados Studio 2019 Freelance Plus to Trados Studio 2021 Freelance Plus"
  • on 04-Sep-2018, I paid £397.78, for "Level 1 Desktop - Support and Maintenance Agreement - 1 Year"
  • on 04-Oct-2017, I paid £303.07, for "Level 1 Desktop - Support and Maintenance Agreement - 1 Year"
  • on 22-Aug-2016, I paid £168.51, for "Level 2 Desktop - Support and Maintenance Agreement - 1 Year"
  • on 18-Aug-2016, I paid £147.60, to "Upgrade from SDL Trados Studio 2015 Freelance Plus to SDL Trados Studio 2017 Freelance Plus"
  • on 29-Mar-2016, I paid £547.35, for "SDL Trados Studio 2015 Freelance Plus + SDL AutoSuggest Creator Add-On"

---

prices include VAT

That's £2,502.26 paid to RWS/SDL since 2016. Over roughly 8 years, that averages about £313/year.

Dropping the Support & Maintenance Agreements (which I no longer buy!) brings my effective Trados spend down to roughly £160–200/year.

On the current pricing page, £28.33 per month works out to £339.96 per year, which is a lot of money. Especially because I also need to keep my stupid memoQ up to date.

Is RWS no longer selling permanent licences? Or will they become available once Trados Studio 2026 is officially launched?



Generated Image Alt-Text
[edited by: RWS Community AI at 9:49 PM (GMT 1) on 25 Jun 2026]
emoji
Parents Reply
  • Hi    New Trados Studio Freelance licenses have only been available as a subscription license since 1st October 2025. 

    Existing customer with either a Studio 2021 / 2022 / 2024 Freelance perpetual license still have the option to upgrade their existing license to Studio 2026 Freelance or can migrate to the subscription offering.

    There are no features and functionalities differences between a perpetual and subscription license other than the subscription has the added benefit of you always being on the latest version of Trados technology whilst you have a valid subscription.

    emoji
Children
No Data