Note: this article was originally published in August. We've re-published it to make sure users can still see it on the front page article list.

As you'll have seen around these pages, we're launching Pickwatch VIP this week, and that means we're also restructuring our membership tiers.

First off, don't worry - anything you've paid for will still work until renewal. If you signed up in November 23 for a year, you'll of course get full access to any features included at that point until November 2024. If your plan included a recurring discount, it will still apply for that tier.

Here's how membership will change in 2024:

Essential

Pickwatch Essential was a basic plan that allowed access only to our most basic information. As many people remarked, this was practically given away by us, and it was an unsustainable way of running a business this size.

We have therefore removed Essential for new users, and old users will have a grace period until week the end of this season to upgrade to Pro. That means those of you who renew between now and that point will only have access until the end of this season, when the package no longer exists. That said, if you have paid for a plan, you can always upgrade and we'll automatically discount anything you've already paid from a Pro upgrade, so it'd be just $20 for a whole year.

We've sent you an offer to get a sweet discount for your first year already. We'd encourage people to take up that offer before the season begins, so as to avoid losing service when your membership runs out.

All Essential services will cut off at the end of the 2024 season, except for those of you who signed up between January 2024 and today.

Here's a handy guide to clear up any doubts:

Of course, you are able to cancel your Essential subscription prior to that date, and you will also be in receipt of a very good opportunity to try Pro in your email inbox, so we'd recommend at least trying Pro, rather than letting your membership and it's benefits lapse.

Pro

Pro has become our new standard access package. It's not changed in price, so you're still paying just $29.99 for a year, or $7.99 for a month. An annual package works out at just $2.49 per month, so it's pretty much the best value you're ever going to get to access all of the core data on Pickwatch.

Pro gives you access to:

All expert table rankings in all sports
All fan picks and rankings
Prop Analysis
Expert profile stats
Column add/remove settings
Filters
Favorites
Line movement data
Expert and user achievements
KC Joyner's confidence picks

VIP

VIP is our new premium level service. We're going to be letting Pro users try VIP to get a feel for it, but you'll recognize some of it. Here are the highlights:

Upset Watch, plus NEW Upset Watch Discord channel where I interact and answer your questions
Pickwatch Insights, our new personalized trend analysis engine, in development for 3 years that finds your trends and optimizes your picks with unique recommendations.
Expert Chat, Direct access to 2023's straight up best NFL expert throughout the NFL season, answering your questions in a members only Discord chat.
More Expert access: Chat directly with the second ranked ATS expert in lifetime wins, and ask fantasy questions in KC Joyner's new fantasy start/sit channel!
Team by team and Game by Game rankings: Our awesome rankings of experts and fans by how well they pick each team, and how well they pick both teams in a given matchup.
Pro/VIP Picks - A slight rebrand, but Pro picks are now VIP picks, and represent algorithmic selections based on hot experts and trends.

VIP is either $29.99 per month or $99.99 for a whole 12 months, meaning a monthly rate of just $8.33 per month. Pro users have also been sent an introductory rate to upgrade prior to their renewal date.

Why are we changing things?

As you can tell, we don't ever change prices lightly. VIP forced us to confront the reality that if a column like Upset Watch, that has generated $9,000+ of profit in just 4 seasons, and takes days of research and writing every week, isn't a 'VIP' product, we're getting something wrong, especially as I'll now be answering your questions in a Discord every week.

And ultimately, like we said when we introduced the paywall, there's an economic reality for us. We have taken a big gamble developing real tools that help you win, and in doing so, we've turned down 'easy' money from sportsbooks to plaster Pickwatch with intrusive ads and offers, in favor of doing the 'right' thing.

So we're here to help you win, and the fact we're only charging $8.33 a month for our top product is still the bargain of the century. Anyone who has followed the platform for a while knows it just works, and we guarantee you'll win more games following the best experts with us.