Sprout Builder cancelling its subscription services - now what?

Just about a year ago I posted about Sprout Builder (an online do-it-yourself flash widget maker) changing from free service to a paid subscription model and the implications for nonprofits wanting a low cost entrée into the world of flash widgets for social networks and slide shows etc. Yesterday Sprout Builder announced their plan to shut down the lower levels of service, focusing instead on enterprise ($3000/year or $250/month) level services. It seems they didn't amass enough smaller subscribers to keep the service going at lower levels. While this is understandable, especially in light of the recession, what matters to nonprofits using the service is - what does this mean for us?

First, if you currently use Sprouts and want to know the details, you'll want to check out the Sprout Builder FAQ on timing. While administrative access will cease at the end of March it looks like your Sprouts will be viewable through the middle of May, so there is a bit of time to come up with alternative solutions for presenting your content.

Here is the original post about Sprout Builder alternatives. It sums up my exploration of what options existed last year with similar functionality. I haven't had time to look around and see what's changed yet - what's better now, what else has gone away and what's new.

Since posting the announcement on my personal blog yesterday I have seen a good deal of frustration and panic in the response to losing their Sprouts, especially from those that ponied up for the paid service which, while generous for nonprofits, was still a significant budget item for some. I am trying to go with the "every crisis is an opportunity" model myself and am wondering how we can utilize this unexpected change to our advantage.

Maybe its time to reevaluate that content being served up in widget form - is it still the best way to get your organizations message across? Many things have changed in the past year so maybe another avenue that wasn't such a great option last year is now a stronger option. Or that the cost and effort of doing "viral" outreach might be better spent improving your email campaigns or other web 1.0 technologies. Or it might lead to the discovery of an even cooler widget possibility, a mash up you wanted to do but that Sprout didn't support.

In any case its a good reminder to always evaluate free and low cost third party services in terms of their longevity and your access to your content and data. As Michelle Murrain pointed out at this time last year "Web2.0 won't be free for much longer" and it pays to have a back up plan and backups.

But Sprout Builder was such a cool inexpensive way to produce some really great flash widgets that it will be sorely missed by the smaller nonprofits who can't afford to hire a flash developer to replace them. So please use the comments to let us know what you think about the similar services, other ways to create simple interactive widgets and what your plan is to replace your existing Sprouts. A lot of people are now in a tight spot due to this announcement and under a deadline to recreate their outreach materials and the hope is we can help each other out.

One newcomer I have seen suggested is Ahead (http://ahead.com), but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet and would love to hear about folk's experience with this or the other alternatives.