I bought my Thesis wordpress theme way back in 2011 (version 1.8). It was one of the best decisions that I have ever made for my blogs.
It enables a non coder or someone with no background knowledge to be able to be able to customise and design my site.
Below are the price of Thesis wordpress package:
You can refer to the whole suite of services available from http://diythemes.com/plans/.
The Basic package is USD$87 and the Basic Plus is USD$164. However, I would strongly recommend that you purchase the Professional package of USD$197 which is the same package that I purchased in 2011 (of course in 2011, the price was sligher lower than this).
Why I choose the Thesis WordPress theme Professional package (and why it would benefit you too):
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Free lifetime upgrade.
At the point I bought the Thesis theme, mobile responsive sites were not the in-thing. In fact, mobile responsive was unheard during that time.
Due to my package enables me to a free lifetime upgrade, I am able to upload my sites using the latest versions. Of course the Thesis themes are all mobile responsive and I need not implement additional codes.
2. Works well for someone with no programming/ coding skills
You may be like me, a person with the passion for blogging and writing who wishes to start on your own blog. Or you are a business owner or work in a company with limited resources and who are tasked to create your own website on very limited budget.
But you do not know css, php, html or whatever that is required for coding.
There are some Thesis users who have migrated to other paid themes as they claimed the new Thesis theme is not user friendly. However, figuring Thesis theme is like learning how to cook. At first, you fiddle and meddle around but once you figure it out, you will know and understand. And is grateful for the services it provides.
I do my best not to mess with the custom css or theme editor if I have to. My sites have crashed a few times when I tried to add some custom scripting.
There are a lot of tutorials out there that help users input custom css scripting into their sites to help in certain functions such as do not show dates published, create custom template pages, do not show number of comments, create custom sidebars, etc. However, all these are taken care using the Thesis theme without the need for any custom css.
3. Enable you to do upgrades on multiple sites owned or run by you
If you manages sites for others or you have many sites (or niche blogs) under you, then you need to select the Thesis wordpress developer version without doubt. This enables you to update and implement new changes across your sites.
Some paid themes may only cover for a year or two or will charge a fee per site. If you have a few sites and require multiple upgrades, you are going to pay much more in the long term. Other themes may charge lesser but you need to pay for additional responsive skins.
For Thesis, there are some free skins provided in the package. I am using Classic responsive as well as Pearsonified skins.