ShipIndex opened for business in early 2009. The database had existed since about 2000 in a different online location, and then moved to the ShipIndex.org URL in 2002. Originally, I had no plans for turning it into a business at the time, so I never bothered to get the ShipIndex.com domain name. Oops.
But when we did start the company, we needed to set reasonable prices for database access. Everything that had originally been free remained free, but we were expanding quickly – the free database still has over 150,000 citations, but the subscription database has now grown to over 3.5 million citations! We set what we thought were reasonable prices for accessing the database, and moved on to the next issue. Now, 14 years later, we think it might be time to review those prices. All of our costs have gone up in the past 14 years, and ShipIndex was never profitable to begin with. So, it’s time to change.
At the end of June 2024, our individual subscription prices will increase. The changes will look like this:
| Subscription Type | Current Price | New Price |
| Two weeks access | $6 | $7.50 |
| Three months access | $22 | $26 |
| Six months access | $35 | $43 |
| One year access | $65 | $80 |
| Monthly recurring access | $8 | $10 |
But if you subscribe now, you can lock in the current price levels. If you decide to establish a monthly subscription, for example, the cost will forever be based on the price when you start – if you start a monthly subscription today it will stay at $8/month, and it will not increase when the standard pricing changes.
You can also purchase one year gift certificates (at bottom of page) now, to use whenever you like, for access to the full database from the point when you redeem the certificate, either for yourself or as a gift.
Price increases aren’t much fun, but it’s been 14 years since we’ve made changes, and now certainly seems to be the time to do it. Feel free to comment below if you have anything to add.