Upgrade from Artist to Pro, or just get MEAP?

Right, so I’m actually on Artist 8 at the moment.

With the 40% off sale I was considering upgrading to 9 Pro, but it seems that only updates are on offer, not upgrades.
Batch export is essentially the only feature from Pro that would be a big life saver for me, so the £266 upgrade seems pricey for my needs. I’m therefore considering MEAP instead, which is only £46. How does it stack up in 2017? And how well does it work with Artist 9 in case I do that update?

Neither…use RIP for batch exporting.