There is no difference, other than the duration of your license. Either way, you get full functionality and full support. The plugins are exactly the same in either model.
The advantages of a monthly subscription:
- Lower entry cost
- Get additional plug-ins at no upgrade cost (when future products are released)
The advantages of a 12-month subscription:
- Get a year of use for the price of less than ten months
- Get additional plug-ins at no upgrade cost (when future products are released)
The advantages of buying perpetual/permanent licenses:
- Own your plug-in licenses for life
- Comes with two activations. Use one at the studio, and the other on your home machine or laptop.
- Support host authorization – doesn’t need an iLok dongle
- Support any iLok generation – not just iLok2 or iLok3 dongle
- Get additional plug-ins at a discounted rate
- Lower cost in the long run