Today feedly was updated to its latest version (v17) and along with it came the option to upgrade to feedly Pro. For $5 a month, Pro users will get a number of features that won’t make their way to the current free version of feedly — at least for now anyway.

The first four features that come with feedly Pro are:

• Article search (Search within your feedly feeds)
• HTTPS (Add a layer of security to your feedly browsing)
• Evernote (One-click save to any of your Evernote notebooks)
• Premium Support (Get bumped to the front of the support line)

This is the first batch of features Pro users will be getting, with the next batch to be decided by the Pro users themselves through a vote. Introducing a Pro version also doesn’t mean that development and improvements to the free version will stop, and feedly says that new features will continue to be added.

Feedly Pro doesn’t actually come out until sometime this fall, but the company is offering a limited offer to help “kick-start the program.” When feedly pro becomes available to everyone, it will cost $5 per month or $45 per year — but right now, you can pay $99 to get a lifetime membership and access to feedly Pro right now. This offer is limited to the first 5,000 users that sign up for it.

With that said, whether dropping a hundred bucks on feedly Pro right now is worth it depends on you. I’d argue the first batch of features aren’t exactly must-haves, but there is the potential for savings in the long run since you won’t require a subscription. HTTPS will eventually be made available on all feedly accounts, since the only barrier them doing that are the costs. Whether or not the premium features that will be added in the future will be something you’d actually use is also up in the air.

If anything, right now it’s also a great way to show support for the developers that have done a pretty good job after Google Reader’s demise.

You can sign up for feedly Pro at the link below:

feedly Pro homepage

[via feedly]