If We Want KrafterPro and DiviUniversity to Have a Future, We Need to Support It
I have an announcement I'd like to share, and I hope you'll take the 4-5 minutes to read it and give it some thought.
I want to encourage everyone with a Lifetime membership to voluntarily support KrafterPro by "buying Mak a few coffees" twice a year, roughly $20 each time.
I've have set a recurring reminder on my own calendar every six months that simply says "time to buy coffee for Mak." It works out $40 a year for me, which isn't much, but if enough of us in the Lifetime community did the same, it could meaningfully help KrafterPro's continued development and long-term survival.
I also, actually, encourage Mak to start charging for new features in the future.
You might reasonably ask: why would I suggest paying for something extra when I have a Lifetime membership, and Mak promised that all future updates would be included?
The answer is simple.
"Because we want Mak to continue developing KrafterPro and creating new things for us."
Around 2020–2021, Elegant Themes discussed the sustainability of the Lifetime model. Elegant Themes needed continuing revenue to keep developing Divi. Rather than simply taking away existing Lifetime memberships, they introduced additional products and services around Divi.
Over time, we saw services such as Divi Teams, Divi Cloud, Divi AI, and other additions to the Divi ecosystem. As Lifetime members, we still had what we originally purchased. Our Lifetime Divi membership didn't disappear.
But if we wanted these additional services, we had to pay for them separately, and they did not have any lifetime option.
And I believe that is perfectly reasonable.
For Mak to keep creating new courses, products and spending time on webinars with us, it costs money, and that requires funding. The only realistic way to make that happen is to either charge for upcoming things, or introduce a yearly subscription.
For example, imagine Mak integrates AI directly into KrafterPro one day. Should that be free for Lifetime members too? I'd argue no,
Because you didn't buy "KrafterPro with built-in AI," you bought KrafterPro as it existed at the time. With AI integrated, it would be an update that changes everything.
Of course, as a Lifetime member of KrafterPro, you should still receive bug fixes and smaller updates, but if you wanted it with AI, there should be an extra cost. And I strongly recommend Mak, never offer lifetime for additional things that could be included (or excluded) with KrafterPro.
Or take another example: suppose Mak creates a dedicated course on using Divi AI once it's released (something Elegant Themes already announced that will be released with an additional charge if you want it). Shouldn't you be willing to pay Mak for that course?
Again, when you purchased your Lifetime membership, that course simply wasn't part of the deal.
So, fellow Lifetime members, please give it some thought.
If KrafterPro saves you time, helps your business, or has taught you something valuable, perhaps twice a year it's worth saying:
"Thanks, Mak. The coffee is on me." ☕
And be willing to pay for additional things added to KrafterPro and DiviUniversity.
Thank you Tini for the 4 Coffees 😀
Thank you Thomas Koppe for the 4 Coffees 😀
Hi, Pedro
Thank you so much for writing this and for supporting me not only financially, but by recognising what it takes to keep KrafterPRO and Divi University moving forward.
I’ll be completely honest: some months are incredibly difficult.
Most Divi University Lifetime members purchased their memberships more than five years ago. I’m deeply grateful for that early support, but those payments were made once, while the costs of running the business continue every month.
Software development, hosting, licences, support, course production, community calls and the services required to operate everything all have recurring costs. There are months when covering those costs becomes a real struggle, especially while I continue developing KrafterPRO and creating new training for the community.
I want to be very clear, though: nobody with a Lifetime membership should feel pressured or obligated to contribute again. I will continue honouring the membership and product commitments I made.
But for anyone who chooses to buy me a coffee, purchase a new course or support a future product, please know that it genuinely makes a difference. It gives me more time and resources to continue building, teaching and supporting this community.
I also agree that the sustainable path forward is to create genuinely new products, services and advanced capabilities that can generate recurring revenue—without taking away what existing Lifetime members already purchased.
My goal is not to charge people repeatedly for the same thing. It is to build new things that are valuable enough to purchase in their own right while continuing to support the products and memberships people already own.
Thank you again for starting this conversation and for caring about the future of KrafterPRO and Divi University. That support means more to me than you probably realise. ❤️
Pedro Alvarez Mak .
Absolutely agree with this. I genuinely believe we should think about the long-term sustainability of KrafterPro and Divi University.
The "buy Mak a coffee" idea is a great gesture, but I would go one step further. I think there should be a nominal annual renewal/support fee for Lifetime members—something reasonable that doesn't feel like a burden, but provides Mak with a predictable recurring income.
Even a relatively small annual amount, multiplied across the Lifetime community, could provide a meaningful and sustainable source of revenue for continued development, support, community activities, webinars, documentation, and new features.
At the same time, I completely agree that major new products, significant new features, specialised courses, or completely new services can and should have additional pricing. A Lifetime purchase should honour what was originally promised, but it shouldn't mean that everything created in the future has to be included indefinitely at no additional cost.
Personally, I would much rather pay a reasonable annual fee knowing that it helps Mak continue developing KrafterPro, supporting the community, and creating new things for us, rather than seeing financial constraints limit what can be built.
If KrafterPro saves us time, improves our workflow, and helps us deliver better websites to our clients, supporting its continued development is a worthwhile investment.
So yes—coffee is on me, but I'd also happily pay a reasonable annual renewal/support fee to help ensure KrafterPro and Divi University have a sustainable future. ☕
Kiran Kumar Yes, if everyone did, like, e.g. me buying 4 coffees two times a year, we would not need to have a yearly fee, but I would be surprised if even 10% of the lifetime users did that. So to enforce an annual support fee of, e.g. $40 I would gladly pay, but I think that would be difficult, as it is sold as LifeTime, but yes, I'm with you on this
"Ieder zijn eigen keuze. Het is prima om vrijwillig te doneren, maar geen enkel lifetime-lid hoeft zich slecht of schuldig te voelen omdat hij simpelweg gebruikmaakt van de voorwaarden en updates waarvoor hij destijds wettelijk heeft betaald. Het lifetime-model was een bewuste zakelijke keuze van de maker om in de beginfase financiering op te halen, en het nakomen van die belofte is een kwestie van zakelijke ethiek."
Paul Huybrechts Yes, I agree with that, but what I mentioned is that LifeTime should not include anything new going forward.
Of course, if anyone has paid Lifetime for KrafterPro, they should continue to receive bug fixes and smaller updates, but if anything big is added that isn't needed for KrafterPro to work like before, I recommend Mak let us pay for it if we want it. And this is standard in almost every other place
I still think the “buy me a coffee” idea, whether it’s one coffee or a few, is a great way to bring in some extra support to help keep the community running and continue developing the products and services.
Of course, all of this costs money, and financial support is absolutely necessary. There are always two sides to it. Hosting, development, support, and everything else need to be paid for.
At the same time, I agree with what Mak has said: if you promise something, you should stick to it. Otherwise, there’s a risk of losing people’s trust, and in the long run that could also mean less financial support.
I also think that if everything became a recurring subscription, you could lose some of the people who only build two or three websites a year, or who do this more as a hobby or small side business. There are already so many tools and services with individually reasonable monthly or yearly fees, but once you add them all together, it can become quite expensive.
It also depends a lot on the type of clients you build websites for. Not everyone is building large e-commerce sites or working on projects with very large budgets.
So overall, I think Mak has found a really good approach, and I’m convinced the community will continue to grow as more people discover the products and this way of working.
Thank you, Mak ., for all the fantastic work you’re doing. It’s greatly appreciated!
Mathias G I agree with what you say, but I do think that to many people will simply never "buy me a coffee"
I think that too many people expect that "I have to pay once, and everything should be free now" or "Why pay, the internet should be free", e.g. I have 20+ photos on Pixabay, have been downloaded a little more than 2 million times.... Two coffees have been bought for me on that.
Again, I agree with what you say, but I do not think enough people will actually do it
Where do I find support Mak monthly?
Herwin Huizer Anyone can support this buy a yearly $39 "Super Supporter" here https://diviuniversity.com/?fluent-cart=instant_checkout&item_id=99&quantity=1
Or buy him a coffee how many time you want :) here: https://diviuniversity.com/product/coffee/