An interview with Madame de Maintenon
Q: A lot has happened at Hex-Rays in the past week: a major new release with IDA 9.0, the launch of IDA Classroom and IDA Pro OEM, Teams and Private Lumina becoming add-ons, a new website, a customer portal for downloading license keys, updated technical documentation, and even changes to subscription terms. So, what’s the latest, Your Ladyship?
[Madame de Maintenon] Indeed, it’s been quite an eventful week for our users! One of the key highlights is our new customer portal, where users can now download installers, utility binaries, and their IDA license keys—no need to email us anymore for those. In the future, customers will be able to manage their entire license base, view their order history, and access invoices through the portal. It will also provide access to data feeds, like signature bundles, which users can opt to download.
As soon as we launched, some of our most enthusiastic users were already trying to break into the system to get their hands on unpaid license keys. This caused some issues, and we sincerely apologize if anyone experienced trouble downloading their keys for the new IDA 9.0. We’re also working on making the process for obtaining IDA Free licenses more straightforward, and we expect most of the open cases to be resolved by now. As always, our valued customers are welcome to reach out to our support team at support@hex-rays.com if they encounter any issues.
Q: I came across a social media post claiming that the new IDA prices have almost quadrupled. Is that true?
[Madame de Maintenon] Oh, that doesn’t sound right at all! In fact, with the shift to a subscription model, IDA Pro licenses, on average, are 45% cheaper to get started with compared to the former perpetual licenses. For example, the new IDA Pro Essential package, which includes two cloud-based decompilers, is now priced at just $/€ 1,099 per year, and the IDA Pro Expert-2, with two local decompilers, is now available for $/€ 2,999 per year. Under the previous perpetual model, these packages were priced at $/€ 5,862, so the new pricing offers upfront savings of 81% and 49%, respectively. Over a typical customer lifecycle—let's say four years—the overall cost under the subscription model will be comparable to what customers would have paid under the previous perpetual model with annual support renewals. For example, under perpetual licensing, a user would pay 'X' in the first year, and 40% of 'X' in each subsequent year for support, adding up to 2.2X over four years. With subscriptions, customers pay an average of 0.55X annually, also totaling 2.2X over the same period.
Customers now also benefit from clearer discount options. For example, committing to a 3-year subscription reduces the annual cost to 0.48X, and with the highest volume discount applied, the price can drop even further to 0.34X per year. These are average figures across the board, but rest assured, we’re committed to making the transition as smooth as possible. If any pricing issues arise, we’ll address them immediately.
Q: Despite the price reductions, is it possible that some existing customers might see their bill go up?
[Madame de Maintenon] We’re committed to ensuring that it doesn’t happen, and we strongly encourage customers to reach out if their calculations suggest otherwise. There are a few cases we are particularly mindful of a) Long-standing customers who don’t frequently purchase new licenses may not immediately see the savings outlined above. We are dedicated to making their transition as smooth as possible, so they should definitely get in touch. b) Customers who mainly use IDA as a disassembler and don’t need decompilers should also contact us, as we have tailored solutions for their specific needs. c) For those who previously bought an odd number of decompilers and are now only seeing even-numbered package options, there’s no need to worry. You can move to a plan with one additional decompiler (e.g., Expert-6 if you had 5) while paying the price of the lower plan (Expert-4).
We encourage all existing customers to reach out for a quote or guidance on selecting the right package for their needs.
Q: I’ve heard there’s a new product called IDA Classroom that’s being offered free-of-charge. Is that correct?
[Madame de Maintenon] Absolutely! As part of our commitment to supporting the next generation of professionals, we’re now offering IDA with four decompilers completely free to universities, engineering schools, for-profit educational providers, and their students. The supported processor architectures are the ones most commonly used in education—x86 and ARM, both in 32- and 64-bit versions.
We also encourage professional trainers to reach out to learn more about our new IDA Classroom offering, which they can benefit from. Additionally, we’re offering a 70% discount on IDA Pro subscriptions for academic institutions and researchers who require the full power of IDA Pro.
Finally, we’re committed to continuing to support students after they’ve completed their course that used IDA Classroom by offering an extension to their Classroom subscription for one year free-of-charge or at a 70% discount for those who want to use IDA Pro’s full capabilities.
Q: So, the free IDA Classroom subscriptions are now available to training companies as well, not just universities?
[Madame de Maintenon] Exactly! IDA Classroom is now free for professional trainers and their students for an entire year. These trainers can include malware analysis instructors, penetration testing coaches, or organizations offering cybersecurity risk training. They don’t need to be affiliated with a specific university or engineering school. However, the courses must be open to the public—so technically, I should be able to enroll if I wanted to. Those offering private courses, like corporate training or military academies, are not eligible.
Q: Why did Hex-Rays move to a subscription model?
[Madame de Maintenon] In no particular order, here are a few reasons why we moved to a subscription model: a) The subscription model significantly reduces the upfront cost of using IDA, making it more accessible, b) While IDA Pro users will always have the option to use IDA in an air-gapped/offline environment, we're increasingly developing server-side services that depend on a robust hardware infrastructure. The new signature packs, available for download from our customer portal, are just one example—and many more are on the way. By adopting a subscription model, we can ensure continuous improvement and maintenance of these services without the limitations of a one-time purchase. Additionally, charging a one-off fee for our software while shouldering the ongoing costs of the back-end infrastructure is not sustainable in the long term, c) Regular subscription payments help us better forecast cash flow and avoid the challenges of chasing overdue payments - a real headache, honestly. It's very much like how employees appreciate the reliability of a regular salary.
This is a change for us all and I know our users will understand. After all, we did eventually stop buying CDs and switched to paid music platforms.
Q: So, the licensing change has nothing to do with reports of Hex-Rays having a new owner?
[Madame de Maintenon] I understand there are a few myths floating around about Hex-Rays’ ownership. For example, Wikipedia suggests that the private equity fund Smartfin now owns Hex-Rays, but that’s not accurate. Ilfak Guilfanov, our founder (and my creator), along with Hex-Rays employees, are the largest shareholders of our parent company. Smartfin is a minority shareholder, offering valuable expertise in innovation and growth. Their involvement has already enabled significant investments in new products and features, and we’re confident that our customers will soon see the benefits of these initiatives.
Q: Speaking of new features, what’s your favorite in IDA 9.0?
[Madame de Maintenon] I must say, I love everything that’s been added to IDA 9.0. But if I had to pick, unearthing x64 exceptions is an incredibly powerful feature. It’s the brainchild of Rolf Rolles, who worked closely with the team to make it a reality. Right now, it works on code compiled by MSVC, and I’m excited about its potential. There have also been some fantastic UI improvements thanks to Julian, our product owner, and some of our passionate developers. Features like the idalib headless library, the RISC-V and nanoMIPS decompilers, and the WASM disassembler were highly anticipated, so they weren’t a huge surprise for most customers. However, the FLIRT signature manager and the new signature packs were unexpected delights, and we’ve already received great feedback on them—especially seeing multi-core processing at work in IDA! We’ve also taken the first steps to improve the usability of our APIs and plug-ins, and there are many more exciting innovations coming in that area.
Q: How did you become the face of IDA? Could you share the full story?
[Madame de Maintenon] Of course. Initially, Ilfak named the product 'The Interactive Disassembler,' which quickly became known as IDA. Back in the 2000s, the team was searching for a logo and considered using Ada Lovelace's likeness, given that her name sounds similar to IDA and she was the first to describe the workings of a theoretical computer. However, they struggled to find a good image of Ada online. That’s when Pierre Vandevenne, the founder of Datarescue, suggested that I audition for the role. I like to think it was my elegance and wit that won them over. And that’s how I became the face of the product!
Q: There’s been quite a buzz around IDA 9.0, especially since it features a new logo that resembles a younger version of you. Could you tell us more about that?
[Madame de Maintenon] *smiling and blushing* Oh, I’m truly flattered! The new portrait was revealed alongside IDA 9.0, and it does capture a more youthful version of myself. It was actually a wonderful gift from our team working on AI-powered tools. They gathered an impressive collection of paintings of me and used them to recreate a 'younger me.' Of course, the portrait displayed at the Château de Maintenon will always remain IDA’s official product logo. But for IDA 9.0, let’s just say I’ve indulged in a bit of an 'anti-aging' treatment!
Q: And finally, can you confirm the long-standing rumor—did you secretly marry Louis XIV, the King of France?
[Madame de Maintenon] *smiling mysteriously* I’ll leave that to the endless rumors circulating online. The internet seems to have a way of always knowing what really happened, don’t you think?