FAMFREE Personal License
Cast98 is free to use all the time. You are not required to upgrade as long as you don't mind seeing ads and you don't need more than three talent profiles.
You can remove site-wide ads and unlock up to 10 talent profiles when you purchase a personal license. Upgrade your account for the rest of {{ now | format('Y') }} or give ads the boot for all-time; the choice is yours!
Terms of Use
During checkout, please use the same email address as your registered account on Cast98 to avoid delays with activation, and ads will only be hidden when you're logged in; the system won't recognize your license when using the site as a guest user.
Please allow up to 48 hours to activate your license after purchase, and please do not try to checkout more than once to avoid duplicate transactions.
This is a new initiative, so if ads still appear after your purchase please contact Daniel (that's me) and I will gladly make them stop once I verify your purchase.
FAQs
What's Included?
Your purchase of a personal license includes:
- No more ads on {{ region:url }} whenever you're logged in
- Up to 10 talent profiles on your account
- Probably other perks in the future - suggestions are welcome!
Why Have Ads At All?
I hate ads as much as you do, probably more. I swear it. I promised myself early on that Cast98 would never have ads. For 8 years I strived to build an online tool that would be so helpful that directors would eagerly pay for the service and thank me for it.
But, despite multiple price reductions over the years, my top FAQs are always inquiries about discounts and requests for free trials, and a plea whenever I would try to politely explain the cost. Even now with a robust free tier, at least one director has asked for a free XL upgrade and another asked to confirm they could purchase the monthly XL for one show and cancel it rest of season (yes that's allowed). It's a tough pill to swallow after the tens of thousands of hours I've committed to this project, but I've been around local theatre long enough to know budgets are paper thin so no hard feelings.
But... I've caved on running ads because my family has grown since COVID while my income as an entrepreneur has not. I must make a living to support my children or else I'll have to end this venture and go back to full-time employment. That's why ads are running now, and that's why I'm also offering this personal license as a way to opt-out. I hope you find this to be a fair trade-off. I am sorry for oversharing, but I want you to understand I'm on your team; I don't want ads, I despise them.
My dream is to convert Cast98 from a passion project into a full-time job (maybe even hire a team!) and your personal license purchase is a baby step towards that, so I mean it sincerely - THANK YOU!
– Daniel Fowler, creator of Cast98
Advertise on Cast98
If you have a business you'd like to promote, I'd be glad to discuss ad placements. Just contact Daniel (that's me). It'd be nice to have business partners/sponsors with relevant ads for Cast98's niche theatre audience instead of the randomly generated ones from an ad network.
Tip Jar
If you buy the personal license and want to give a little more just to support my efforts of building software for community theatre and schools to enjoy, please know that I cannot offer tax deductions or anything like that, but every dollar helps me maintain the site and I will be unspeakably grateful for your generosity.