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I just hate it when you go to the pricing page and theres NO PRICING. None.

by boxed 3y ago

7thaccount 3y ago
A lot of these companies started out with listed pricing and then grew and got crazy expensive. One of the nice things about the Mosek solver is that the price is listed and it is reasonable. I just dislike their API and documentation as it's written for mathematicians and not business SMEs.
- pedrosorio 3y ago
  > their API and documentation as it's written for mathematicians and not business SMEs I've never worked with any of these, but that's what I would expect as well. API documentation that describes how to solve each kind of mathematical optimization problem. Do you have an example of an optimization solver with API documentation for business SMEs?
  - 7thaccount 3y ago
    Yeah. GUROBI makes it really easy to just do something like m.addConstr(x+y<=limit); Where m is a model object, x & y are decision variables and limit is a constant. The above is a no brainer for any business expert. Some solvers are a LOT more low level though and you have to think of the problem in matrix form and specify row/column stuff and it's a lot more involved and assumes significantly more knowledge of the user than the former.
    - TimTheTinker 3y ago
      Gurobi does require you to iterate over doubly-nested arrays frequently (like when establishing a constraint between two entity sets)
TimTheTinker 3y ago
Just fork the community edition and add your own implementation of "nearby selection" and "multithreaded solving"... in effect, you get the enterprise edition for free, you just have to pay your own developers. Believe it or not, there are software companies that would go this route. I worked for one... as a developer, my time was far less important than the penny pinching and the heavy bureaucracy required for procurement. It would cost less to pay Timefold whatever price they quote.
ge0ffrey 3y ago
Sorry. We're working on it... we're a startup. We're still figuring out a good, clear, honest pricing model for Enterprise that works well across company sizes (small - big), industries (healthcare vs telecom vs ...) and usage frequency (strategic vs operational planning). We're happy to send you our pricing table version 1 (use contact us form on Timefold website), but we need your feedback if it fits your business model, deployment model, usage model, etc to validate our pricing model.
- johnthescott 3y ago
  easy to raise prices later. in your billing model include plan per customer.

I just hate it when you go to the pricing page and theres NO PRICING. None.

by boxed 3y ago

I just hate it when you go to the pricing page and theres NO PRICING. None.

A lot of these companies started out with listed pricing and then grew and got crazy expensive. One of the nice things about the Mosek solver is that the price is listed and it is reasonable. I just dislike their API and documentation as it's written for mathematicians and not business SMEs.

pedrosorio 3y ago
> their API and documentation as it's written for mathematicians and not business SMEs I've never worked with any of these, but that's what I would expect as well. API documentation that describes how to solve each kind of mathematical optimization problem. Do you have an example of an optimization solver with API documentation for business SMEs?
- 7thaccount 3y ago
  Yeah. GUROBI makes it really easy to just do something like m.addConstr(x+y<=limit); Where m is a model object, x & y are decision variables and limit is a constant. The above is a no brainer for any business expert. Some solvers are a LOT more low level though and you have to think of the problem in matrix form and specify row/column stuff and it's a lot more involved and assumes significantly more knowledge of the user than the former.
  - TimTheTinker 3y ago
    Gurobi does require you to iterate over doubly-nested arrays frequently (like when establishing a constraint between two entity sets)

TimTheTinker 3y ago

Just fork the community edition and add your own implementation of "nearby selection" and "multithreaded solving"... in effect, you get the enterprise edition for free, you just have to pay your own developers. Believe it or not, there are software companies that would go this route. I worked for one... as a developer, my time was far less important than the penny pinching and the heavy bureaucracy required for procurement. It would cost less to pay Timefold whatever price they quote.

ge0ffrey 3y ago

Sorry. We're working on it... we're a startup. We're still figuring out a good, clear, honest pricing model for Enterprise that works well across company sizes (small - big), industries (healthcare vs telecom vs ...) and usage frequency (strategic vs operational planning). We're happy to send you our pricing table version 1 (use contact us form on Timefold website), but we need your feedback if it fits your business model, deployment model, usage model, etc to validate our pricing model.

johnthescott 3y ago
easy to raise prices later. in your billing model include plan per customer.