Editing Matterport May 2025 subscription pricing restructure

{{IncidentCargo
|Company=Matterport
|StartDate=2025-05-20
|EndDate=
|Status=Active
|ProductLine=
|Product=
|ArticleType=Service
|Type=Software as a Service,Planned Obsolescence,Data Access
|Description=Matterport raised subscription prices May 2025; Pro-camera owners must pay $69+/month to keep existing 3D tours online or lose access
}}

'''Matterport May 2025 subscription pricing restructure''' refers to a pricing change that Matterport, Inc. announced on May 20, 2025, under which owners of the company's Pro-series cameras cannot host the scans those cameras produce on the Free plan, and Pro2 and Pro3 scans require a Professional plan or higher, starting at $69 per month.<ref name="pricelist" /><ref name="plans" /><ref name="blog" /> The change took effect immediately for new customers and applies to existing customers at their next renewal on or after June 24, 2025.<ref name="blog" /> Under Matterport's Platform Subscription Agreement, a customer who stops paying loses access to every previously created tour and loses the ability to export the underlying files.<ref name="psa" />

== Background ==

Matterport sells 3D-capture cameras and hosts the [[Software as a service|cloud-hosted]] tours those cameras produce. The hardware is not cheap: the company's price list shows the Pro3 camera at $5,995 in the United States.<ref name="pricelist">{{Cite web |url=https://support.matterport.com/s/article/Matterport-Price-List?language=en_US |title=Matterport Price List |publisher=Matterport |access-date=2026-05-26}}</ref> An archived July 2021 price list listed the earlier Pro2 camera at $3,395.<ref name="legacy2021">{{Cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728062430/https://support.matterport.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000296927-Matterport-Price-List |title=Matterport Price List (archived July 28, 2021) |publisher=Matterport |via=Internet Archive |date=2021-07-28 |access-date=2026-05-26}}</ref> A camera owner cannot view a tour in interactive 3D without an active hosting subscription; once hosting lapses, the tour is archived and stops being accessible inside Matterport's cloud.<ref name="perspective3d">{{Cite web |url=https://perspective3-d.com/matterport-hosting-costs-explained/ |title=Matterport Hosting Explained: Costs, Archiving, Reactivation & What It Means for You |last=Rennick |first=Sherry |work=Perspective 3D |date=2025-12-22 |access-date=2026-05-26}}</ref>

On February 28, 2025, CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP) completed its acquisition of Matterport (NASDAQ: MTTR).<ref name="costar">{{Cite web |url=https://matterport.com/news/costar-group-completes-acquisition-of-matterport-ushering-in-a-new-era-of-3d |title=CoStar Group Completes Acquisition of Matterport, Ushering in a New Era of 3D Digital Twins and AI-Powered Real Estate Innovation |publisher=Matterport |date=2025-02-28 |access-date=2026-05-26}}</ref> RJ Pittman, identified in that announcement as Matterport's Chairman and CEO, authored the May 20 pricing-update blog post three months later.<ref name="costar" /><ref name="blog" />

A snapshot of Matterport's plans page captured on January 26, 2025, before the restructure, shows the tier ladder defined by Active Space counts rather than dollar figures: the Free plan offered 1 Active Space and 2 users with ''"Limited camera support"''; Starter offered 5 to 20 Active Spaces, also with ''"Limited camera support"''; Professional offered 20 to 150 Active Spaces and was ''"Compatible with all supported cameras"''; and Business offered 100 to 300 Active Spaces.<ref name="wayback2025">{{Cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250126113210/https://matterport.com/plans |title=Matterport Subscription Plan Pricing (archived January 26, 2025) |publisher=Matterport |via=Internet Archive |date=2025-01-26 |access-date=2026-05-26}}</ref> The same archived July 2021 price list put the Starter plan at $9.99 per month and the Business plan at $309 per month; those are 2021 figures, not the prices in effect immediately before May 2025, which Matterport's site loaded through scripting that the archive did not capture.<ref name="legacy2021" />

== The pricing restructure ==

Matterport announced the change in a blog post titled ''"Subscription Pricing Update: What You Need to Know,"'' published May 20, 2025, and signed by Pittman.<ref name="blog">{{Cite web |url=https://matterport.com/blog/subscription-pricing-update |title=Subscription Pricing Update: What You Need to Know |last=Pittman |first=RJ |publisher=Matterport |date=2025-05-20 |access-date=2026-05-26}}</ref> The post named two distinct effective dates. New customers paid the new rates immediately; existing customers were moved to the new rates at renewal. Pittman wrote:

<blockquote>''Effective today, May 20, 2025, our updated pricing goes into effect for new customers. For existing customers, new rates begin on your next renewal date on or after June 24, 2025. For annual plans, this automatic change will occur on the next annual renewal billing date between June 24, 2025 - June 23, 2026.''</blockquote><ref name="blog" />

The post told existing customers they could keep the lower rates for a year by moving to annual billing first:

<blockquote>''...you can lock in lower prices for 12 months by switching from a monthly to annual plan, or upgrading an annual plan before June 23, 2025.''</blockquote><ref name="blog" />

Matterport framed the increase as paying for new AI features, listing Property Intelligence, Defurnish, Merge, Field Tags, and integrations with Autodesk, AWS, and Procore.<ref name="blog" /> The blog listed no dollar amounts and linked to the price page.<ref name="blog" />

The current price list bills subscriptions by the number of Active Spaces a tier allows. Starter 5 costs $14 per month ($144 per year); Professional 20 costs $69 per month ($696 per year); and Business 100 costs $355 per month.<ref name="pricelist" /> Spaces larger than 200 scan points count as more than one Active Space, so a single large building can consume multiple slots of a tier's allowance, and the Free plan does not support large spaces at all.<ref name="plans">{{Cite web |url=https://support.matterport.com/s/article/Subscription-Plans?language=en_US |title=Subscription Plans |publisher=Matterport |access-date=2026-05-26}}</ref>

== Pro-camera hosting restrictions ==

The restriction at the center of the change concerns who can host scans from Matterport's own hardware. The price list states that spaces created with the Pro3, Pro2, Pro2 Lite, and Pro1 cameras ''"cannot be uploaded to Free Plans"'' and ''"cannot be uploaded to Starter Plans."''<ref name="pricelist" /> Pro-camera scans can be uploaded only to Professional, Business, or Enterprise plans, and the price list states directly that ''"You need to have a Professional plan or higher to use Pro3 or Pro2."''<ref name="pricelist" /> The Subscription Plans article confirms the same matrix in its camera-compatibility table: Pro3, Pro2, and Pro2 Lite all show an X under Free and Starter and a checkmark under Professional, Business, and Enterprise.<ref name="plans" />

The cheapest plan that accepts a Pro-camera scan is therefore Professional 20 at $69 per month.<ref name="pricelist" /> A buyer who paid $5,995 for a Pro3, or $3,395 for the earlier Pro2, cannot host that camera's output on the no-cost tier and cannot reach a paid plan below Professional.<ref name="pricelist" /><ref name="legacy2021" />

There is no documented downgrade path back out of the $69-per-month Professional 20 tier or higher. The price list states that ''"You cannot downgrade from a paid plan to a Free plan"'' and that ''"Professional, Business, and Enterprise Plans cannot downgrade to a Free or Starter Plan."''<ref name="pricelist" /> A customer who lets a paid plan lapse cannot reactivate it to Free; the price list says a canceled paying account ''"will not be able to reactivate to Free"'' and must create a new Free account under a different email address, which would not carry the old tours.<ref name="pricelist" /> Free plans also cannot reactivate archived spaces at all without upgrading to a paid plan.<ref name="plans" />

== Data ownership and access on lapse ==

Paragraph 9.2 of the Platform Subscription Agreement assigns ownership of each Matterport Space to the customer ''"by way of a present assignment of a future right."''<ref name="psa">{{Cite web |url=https://matterport.com/legal/platform-subscription-agreement |title=Matterport Platform Subscription Agreement |publisher=Matterport |date=2026-03-01 |access-date=2026-05-26}}</ref> Paragraph 9.3 grants Matterport a ''"non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free, sub-licensable licence"'' to use each Space for its own business, during the term and afterward.<ref name="psa" />

Paragraph 11.2 sets out what happens to that ownership on cancellation or expiry:

<blockquote>''Upon the termination or expiry of Customer's Platform Subscription, Customer's access to the Platform Services (and the access of every Authorized User) will be deactivated and Customer will cease to have any ability to export any previously purchased Matterport Digital Assets or Customer Image Data in Customer's Platform account in file formats available through functionality in Customer's Platform account.''</blockquote><ref name="psa" />

Paragraph 11.2 then releases Matterport from any obligation, after termination or expiry, to provide the customer with the technology used to display a Space or with access for exporting digital assets.<ref name="psa" /> Once a subscription lapses, the tours go dark and the export tools that could have produced an offline copy stop working.<ref name="psa" />

Matterport's support FAQ adds that all Spaces are owned by the Account Owner of the account that hosts them, so a homeowner who hires a photographer owns the service of having the scan made, not the Space itself, unless it is transferred.<ref name="faq">{{Cite web |url=https://support.matterport.com/s/article/FAQ-Digital-Twin-Ownership?language=en_US |title=FAQ: Matterport Space Ownership |publisher=Matterport |access-date=2026-05-26}}</ref> When a hosting account is canceled, the FAQ describes a 30-day process in which a person who can prove a legal right to the property may claim a Space, and it requires that any account transferring a Space be ''"in good standing with no past due balance."''<ref name="faq" />

The only export Matterport documents are paid add-ons, and the price list places them above the Free tier. The MatterPak Bundle, which packages a colorized point cloud (.XYZ), a 3D mesh (.OBJ) with texture maps, and floor-plan images, costs $59 ($49 on Business) and is unavailable on Free plans.<ref name="matterpak">{{Cite web |url=https://support.matterport.com/s/article/Download-the-MatterPak-Bundle?language=en_US |title=Download the MatterPak Bundle |publisher=Matterport |access-date=2026-05-26}}</ref><ref name="pricelist" /> The E57 point-cloud file costs $109 and requires a Professional plan or higher.<ref name="pricelist" /> Because Paragraph 11.2 disables export the moment a subscription ends, a customer who wants an offline copy must buy these files while still paying for the plan that the restructure made more expensive.<ref name="psa" /><ref name="pricelist" />

== Hosting dependency for service providers ==

Perspective 3D, a Matterport service provider, published a December 22, 2025 explainer describing the hosting dependency for its own clients. It states that ''"Without active hosting, a Matterport tour cannot be viewed in its interactive 3D format"'' and that a tour is archived if hosting is not renewed.<ref name="perspective3d" /> The same provider notes that ''"Matterport tours cannot be downloaded as standalone interactive files"'' because the tour relies on Matterport's proprietary software, and offers clients individual 360-degree image files as the alternative to an offline interactive copy.<ref name="perspective3d" />

== See also ==

* [[Planned obsolescence]]
* [[Right to repair]]
* [[End-user license agreement]]
* [[Ngenic forces subscription on previously “lifetime” Tune customers]]
* [[Anova oven app subscription model]]

== References ==

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Incidents]]
[[Category:Software as a service]]
[[Category:2025 incidents]]