Autodesk Store or Autodesk Partner: Where Should You Buy?

Autodesk sells subscriptions to South African customers through its own online store, as well as through the partners who have always sold them here. That gives you two ways to buy the same software, and a fair question about which is better. This guide is written by Modena Technologies, Africa's only Autodesk Platinum Partner and an Autodesk Authorised Training Centre in Cape Town. We are one of the two options, so read it with that in mind. We have tried to write the version we would want to read as the buyer, including the cases where the store is the right answer.

The short version. The software, the licence and your Autodesk Account are identical whichever way you buy. The differences are in everything around the licence: the currency you pay in, how you pay, which terms are on offer, what happens at renewal, whether the spend counts towards your B-BBEE scorecard, and whether anyone looks at what you are buying before you buy it. The store suits one person who knows exactly what they need, wants it today and is happy to pay in dollars on a card, and it is the only place to get a monthly term. A partner suits a business: a rand quote, a tax invoice, payment by EFT, B-BBEE recognition, a three-year price lock and someone to ask.

Same software, three ways to buy

Autodesk lists three routes to a subscription: its online store, its own sales team, and an authorised Autodesk Partner. The sales team mostly looks after large accounts, so for most South African businesses the real choice is between the store and a partner.

Nothing about the product changes with the route. The subscription is created in your Autodesk Account, you assign it to a named user in the same place, the downloads and updates come from Autodesk, and Autodesk's own technical support is included. A drawing made on a seat bought from the store is the same as one made on a seat bought from us. So this is not a decision about software. It is a decision about how you want to buy, pay for and look after it.

Side by side

	Autodesk's online store	An Autodesk Partner such as Modena
The software and licence	Identical	Identical
Price	In US dollars, charged to a card. The rand amount depends on the exchange rate and your card's fees on the day	In rands, fixed on the quote
How you pay	Visa, Mastercard or PayPal	EFT against a quote or purchase order, or by card
Terms on offer	Monthly and one-year	One-year and three-year
Renewal	Renews automatically against the card unless you switch auto-renew off	Quoted before the expiry date and renewed when you approve it, with a chance to change the seat mix first
Refunds	Within 30 days on a one-year term, 15 days on a monthly term	Set by each partner. Modena: within 30 days
B-BBEE	No procurement recognition	Recognised at the partner's level. Modena is Level 2, so 125%
Advice before you buy	Product pages, and a sales chat if you ask for one	Someone who asks who does what and recommends a product and edition for each person
Help when something goes wrong	Autodesk's technical support	Autodesk's technical support, plus installation and crash support from Modena's own team
Hardware, training and setup	Not sold	On the same quote

Dollars or rands

The store shows its prices in US dollars and charges a card. A partner quotes in rands from a South African price list. That list is set centrally, through Autodesk's distributor, and not by the partner, which is why every authorised partner in the country quotes from the same starting point.

That makes the store's price a moving one in rand terms. What reaches your statement depends on the exchange rate your bank applies on the day and on the card's foreign-currency fee, which South African banks typically set between 2% and 3%. A rand quote is the amount you pay. It holds for the life of the quote, it can be paid by EFT with no card fee, and it comes with a standard South African tax invoice.

If a predictable budget matters to you, a rand quote takes the exchange rate out of the decision, and a three-year term in rands takes it out for three years. The three-year price is three times the one-year price, so the benefit is the lock and not a discount.

The larger money is in what you buy, not where you buy it. AutoCAD LT costs about a quarter of what AutoCAD costs. A collection bought for someone who only ever opens Revit costs about a fifth more than Revit, every year. Those are the decisions worth having someone check before the order is placed.

When the store is the right answer

There are two cases where we would tell you to buy from Autodesk directly:

• You need a licence for a month or two. The monthly term is sold only by Autodesk. Per month it costs roughly half as much again as an annual subscription, and for a short contract or a temporary extra pair of hands that is still far cheaper than a year you will not use.
• You are one person, you know exactly which product you need, and you need it now. Checkout takes a few minutes at any hour and the software is available immediately.

If that is you, buy from the store. The software is the same, and our training courses and workstation guides are open to you wherever the licence came from.

When a partner is the right answer

• Your business buys on a purchase order and pays by EFT. The store takes cards and PayPal only, and a team's worth of annual subscriptions is a large amount to put on a company card in a foreign currency.
• Preferential procurement matters to you. See the B-BBEE section below.
• You are buying for more than one or two people. Each person needs a decision about product and edition, and most teams end up with a mix. That decision is worth more than any price difference between the two routes.
• You want the cost fixed. A rand quote, and a three-year term if you want the price held for longer. Autodesk's South African store lists monthly and one-year terms.
• You want renewals to be a decision. A store subscription renews automatically against the card. A partner renewal arrives as a quote ahead of the date, which is the moment to drop a seat nobody uses or change one that is the wrong edition.
• You need more than the licence. A workstation to run it on, training for the people using it, or a template and standards set up before the first project.

Work through the four questions in order.

1. 1Do you need the software for only a month or two, such as a short contract or a project peak? Yes: Autodesk's online store, on a monthly term. No: next question.
2. 2Does your business need a rand quote, a purchase order, payment by EFT, or B-BBEE procurement recognition? Yes: an Autodesk Partner. No: next question.
3. 3Are you buying for more than one or two people, or unsure which product or edition each person needs? Yes: an Autodesk Partner. No: next question.
4. 4Do you also need a workstation, training, or help setting the software up? Yes: an Autodesk Partner. No: either route works; the software is the same.

B-BBEE: spend that counts

Modena Technologies is a Level 2 B-BBEE contributor. Under the Codes of Good Practice, spend with a Level 2 supplier is recognised at 125% on your preferential procurement scorecard, so every R100 you spend with us on software, training or services counts as R125. A card payment to Autodesk's online store is spend with an overseas company that holds no B-BBEE certificate, and it earns no recognition.

For a practice or contractor that tenders for public-sector work, or supplies large corporates that ask for a scorecard, software is often one of the larger annual purchases. Where it is bought changes the scorecard without changing the software. Our current certificate is available on request.

What a partner adds that a checkout cannot

A checkout sells whatever is in the basket. A partner's job is to look at the basket first, and to still be there afterwards.

• Before you buy. We ask who does what and recommend a product and edition for each person, with the reasoning shown. Our buyer guides set out how we think about the common ones: AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, Revit LT or Revit, the AEC Collection or individual licences, and Fusion or Inventor.
• At renewal. We review the seat mix against what people used, line every subscription up to one renewal date, and change seat types where the work has changed.
• When something breaks. Installation help and crash and freeze support are included with every subscription bought from us, from people in your time zone, on top of Autodesk's own support.
• Around the licence. A licence is one part of a working setup. The computer it runs on, the people using it, the template they start from and the way files are shared decide whether the software earns its cost. We build Modena Computers workstations in Cape Town for this software, run Autodesk training in our classroom and live online, set up templates and standards, run model health checks, write custom Revit plugins and capture existing buildings and plant by laser scan.

Being a client means you can pick up the phone to people who do this work every day. A short question gets a straight answer. Anything bigger is scoped and quoted as a defined piece of work, so you know the cost before it starts.

A third route to avoid

Search for Autodesk prices in South Africa and you will find listings offering a year of every Autodesk product for a few percent of the real price. Whatever sits behind a listing like that, it is not a commercial subscription in your company's name. It is typically education access or an account that belongs to somebody else. Access can be withdrawn without notice, the work produced on it sits outside the licence terms, and the business using it carries the risk.

There are two legitimate sources: Autodesk itself and an authorised Autodesk Partner. If you are unsure about a seller, Autodesk's partner finder lists every authorised partner in the country.

Moving between the two

You are not locked into either route. A subscription bought on the store renews automatically against the card on file unless auto-renew is switched off in Autodesk Account. A subscription bought through a partner does not renew by itself: the partner quotes it before the expiry date and it renews when you approve it.

The clean time to move from one to the other is the renewal date. If you bought on the store and want to renew through us, tell us a few weeks ahead so that we can quote the replacement, have it in place before the store subscription ends, and line the date up with any other subscriptions you hold. Using both is also reasonable. Plenty of firms keep their core seats with a partner and buy the occasional monthly seat from the store for a short contract.

How Modena helps

Before a quote we ask who does what and recommend a seat mix with the reasoning shown. You get a rand quote, payment by EFT or card, a tax invoice, a 30-day refund window and Level 2 B-BBEE recognition. If you already subscribe, whether through us, another partner or the store, we can review your seat mix before the next renewal. If you need a workstation or training as well, they go on the same quote.

Ask us for a rand quote See software prices in rands

Frequently asked questions

Is the software different if I buy from a partner instead of Autodesk?

No. It is the same product, the same subscription and the same Autodesk Account whichever way you buy. Users are assigned in the same place, downloads and updates come from Autodesk, and Autodesk's own technical support is included either way. What differs is the currency, how you pay, the terms on offer, how renewals are handled and what advice and help come with the purchase.

Does Autodesk's online store charge in rands?

No. Autodesk's South African store prices in US dollars and charges a Visa, Mastercard or PayPal account, so the rand amount depends on the exchange rate and your card's foreign-currency fee on the day. A South African partner quotes a fixed rand price, payable by EFT, with a South African tax invoice.

Can I pay Autodesk by EFT or on a purchase order?

Not through the online store, which accepts Visa, Mastercard and PayPal. Autodesk's own sales team can take a purchase order, on invoice. A partner quotes in rands and you can pay by EFT against that quote or your purchase order, and you receive a South African tax invoice.

Can I get a monthly Autodesk subscription from a partner?

No. The monthly term is sold only by Autodesk directly. Partners sell one-year and three-year terms. If you need a seat for a month or two, the store is the right place to buy it; per month it costs roughly half as much again as an annual subscription, which is the price of the flexibility.

Does buying directly from Autodesk count towards my B-BBEE scorecard?

Generally not. A payment to Autodesk's online store is spend with an overseas supplier that holds no B-BBEE certificate, so it earns no preferential procurement recognition. Spend with a Level 2 B-BBEE contributor such as Modena Technologies is recognised at 125%.

Do I still get Autodesk's support if I buy through a partner?

Yes. Autodesk's technical support comes with every subscription, however it was bought. Buying through Modena adds installation help and crash and freeze support from our own team, in your time zone, with training and consulting available when you need more than that.

Can I move a subscription from the Autodesk store to a partner?

Yes, and the clean time to do it is at renewal. A store subscription renews automatically against the card on file unless auto-renew is switched off in Autodesk Account, so speak to the partner a few weeks before the renewal date. That gives them time to quote the replacement and have it in place before the store subscription ends.

Next step

If you are one person who needs one product for a short time, buy a monthly term from Autodesk's store. If you are buying for a business, send us the list of who does what and we will come back with a seat mix, a rand quote and the reasoning. If a renewal is coming up on a subscription you bought elsewhere, send us the date and we will review it with you first.

This guide is part of our software buyer guides, which cover the Autodesk decisions we are asked about most.