Is it common to have to keep buying updates to Polyglot plugins?

I know it's not a whole lot of $$ but I've paid for several that seemed to work for a while and then they break and require complex workarounds that cost money....or simply just don't work anymore.

I thought the benefit of PG and Eisy was that you could easily just connect devices without complexity.

Specifically, I'm talking about the Tesla plugin and Ecobee. I paid for each of these...perpetual licenses, and now they don't work due to API changes but why am I paying for these things that could break at any time without notice?

It kind of sucks but you have to look at it from the developer's perspective when they have to rework the programming because the api keeps changing to try to lock the 3rd party developer's out. I guess you have to decide what is important to you and if you don't want to pay then consider using homeassistant.

Cloud dependant devices (and any related plugins) are always at the mercy of the manufacturer's whim. You gotta accept that from the start.

Got it. I think developers should make it more clear that they could stop working at any time and not call them perpetual.

I literally got one or two days of the Tesla plugin working and then bought the second version which never worked.

It may not be the developers fault but they collected money for something that was supposed to work.

As @Guy Lavoie pointed out, iot manufacturers commonly adopt a "sell once, support forever" business model.. AND.. insist on a cloud API <- I'm not clear why on this part, probably to collect data on us. And then they realize they sold their product once, have no more revenue stream and yet have real costs to operate the infrastructure for their api and fix bugs and security problems.

Or, sometimes plugin developers reverse engineer an iot manufacturers API and get it to work, eg there's no official API. Then one day the manufacturer changes or locks it. I've found UDI plugin developers to be clear about it when they are reverse engineering something.

When the developer has to create the new API to solve the vendor breaking it, they spend real time doing real work to address the problem. And candidly, plugins are a "sell once, support forever" model.

It's a risk of having a home automation system... any of them, not just a UDI product.

Edited July 3Jul 3 by paulbates

On 7/3/2026 at 10:53 AM, jhoulihan said:

Is it common to have to keep buying updates to Polyglot plugins?

I know it's not a whole lot of $$ but I've paid for several that seemed to work for a while and then they break and require complex workarounds that cost money....or simply just don't work anymore.

I thought the benefit of PG and Eisy was that you could easily just connect devices without complexity.

Specifically, I'm talking about the Tesla plugin and Ecobee. I paid for each of these...perpetual licenses, and now they don't work due to API changes but why am I paying for these things that could break at any time without notice?

I invested a huge amount of time because Ecobee shut off API access so I create the HomeKitHub plugin from scractch for connecting the Ecobee via Homekit, then basically a complete rewrite of Ecobee to interface with the HomeKit plugin. I'll never be compensated for the hours I spent for this, but the extra $$ required help a little. I never charge more for keeping things running and improving when I can, only big changes that required many many hours.

I happened to be in the Plugins panel yesterday and saw there was an update available for the "Notifications(1)" plug-in - the only one I use. So I went ahead and purchased it. Now I have four lines in my plugins list for that one plugin. I tried to activate the one I had just purchased, but I'm not sure I know what I'm doing LOL. Anyways, after the update I got a few PG3 SMS notifications on my phone saying they were from the FREE version. @Jimbo.Automates can you help me out to clean this up?

Thanks.

15 minutes ago, IndyUDIuser said:

I happened to be in the Plugins panel yesterday and saw there was an update available for the "Notifications(1)" plug-in - the only one I use. So I went ahead and purchased it. Now I have four lines in my plugins list for that one plugin. I tried to activate the one I had just purchased, but I'm not sure I know what I'm doing LOL. Anyways, after the update I got a few PG3 SMS notifications on my phone saying they were from the FREE version. @Jimbo.Automates can you help me out to clean this up?

Thanks.

I don't control licensing, you'll have to submit a support ticket.

Thanks for the advice. I cannot even get into the PG3 application today. Keep getting an "unauthorized" error. What fun.

I was able to get into PG3 web pages today. I spent an hour poking around in the screens and finally (I think) got your plug-in updated so it now tells me I am using the Standard edition instead of the free edition.

I am glad this is the only plug-in I use. I find the PG3 Store user interface difficult to use and poorly designed. But that's just me (40 years as a software engineer, 25 years as Insteon/UDI user).

20 hours ago, IndyUDIuser said:

I am glad this is the only plug-in I use. I find the PG3 Store user interface difficult to use and poorly designed. But that's just me (40 years as a software engineer, 25 years as Insteon/UDI user).

As the person responsible for most of that design I'd like to understand what it is about the interface you find difficult to use and any other feedback.

I'm no longer responsible for the development and maintenance of PG3x but your feedback may help the current developer understand what changes could be made to improve it.

On 7/3/2026 at 1:53 PM, jhoulihan said:

Is it common to have to keep buying updates to Polyglot plugins?

I know it's not a whole lot of $$ but I've paid for several that seemed to work for a while and then they break and require complex workarounds that cost money....or simply just don't work anymore.

I thought the benefit of PG and Eisy was that you could easily just connect devices without complexity.

Specifically, I'm talking about the Tesla plugin and Ecobee. I paid for each of these...perpetual licenses, and now they don't work due to API changes but why am I paying for these things that could break at any time without notice?

"BLEEDING EDGE" There is a reason for this nickname.