4/1/2025 at 5:19:26 PM
I'm always interested in new ways to handle billing/subscriptions/etc and this is a cool change.I recently heard of a payment strategy that I liked a lot though I understand it's hard to explain to customers. John Siracusa's Hyperspace [0] app has the following options:
* Monthly, recurring
* Monthly, one-time
* Yearly, recurring
* Monthly, one-time
* Lifetime, one-time
More details in the developer's own words here [1]. The interesting options are the Monthly and Yearly one-time options. For anyone in the Apple ecosystem you can technically get this behavior by purchasing a subscription and immediately cancelling it (since you will get the full time period you paid for still). But I really like this payment style especially for an app like this where I don't want to pay-per-use (that feel punitive) but I don't really have ongoing data-deduplication needs (at least the features the product currently offers). It's a "once every year or so" and I might need to run it multiple times on different directories/different settings.
"Time-based unlocks" might be a better way to think about it. There are lots of products I would 1000000% pay for 1 month of, if it auto-cancelled, but I don't need it every month. Often I just skip using the product completely since I have no idea if I cancel if they will close my account right away and/or try to refund me. I just don't want to have to set a calendar item to remember to cancel a day before it renews.
I'm not opposed to subscriptions, developers need to make money and platforms/OS change all the time (especially in mobile) so there is ongoing maintenance. But the issue for me are apps I only need for a little bit or infrequently. If Adobe offered a "1 month, no renewal" then there is a good chance I'd still be using Photoshop instead of switching to Pixelmator Pro.
by joshstrange
4/1/2025 at 9:13:16 PM
It sounds like a good option to have with confusing phrasing. "Buy access for 1 month" would be a lot more clear than "monthly" which to me indicates something recurring (I'm not a native speaker).It also sounds like an option that reduces sales in almost all cases, so it will never be widely adopted.
by poincaredisk
4/2/2025 at 10:12:19 PM
For completeness, it does say “one month, one year or forever” in the linked FAQ and makes clear it’s not recurring. GP rephrased the FAQ.by peanball
4/1/2025 at 10:52:54 PM
As much as I like lifetime purchases I think for software products it creates too many liabilities for all parties. Probably in the fine print you need a carve out saying it won't actually be provided in perpetuity (what software is?). As a purchaser I don't think it's realistic to really expect the software forever. I think of it more as a supporter/founder tier with various privileges that will one day end - and it should probably be advertised as such.by tmpz22
4/1/2025 at 11:49:03 PM
Sounds like you're assuming all software is SaaS that requires the provider to keep it available?Software used to all be lifetime purchases by providing you with the actual program. If you bought a copy of WordPerfect in the 90s it will still work fine today even though no one is offering it anymore.
by wild_egg
4/2/2025 at 3:25:32 PM
My Sublime Text licenses are perpetual.I have various perpetual CAD licenses going back to the 90's.
Same for some development tools, some, or maybe just one dating back to the 80's. (MAC/65)
MSDOS
All versions of Windows I have used and or purchased.
Microsoft Office
Libre Office
SGI IRIX
And I could go on for a long time. Point is a whole lot of software runs on some sort of perpetual license. Any why not? It all does what it was written to do.
Until very recently, with the rise of software in our browsers, one could expect most software to operate this way.
When new versions are needed, AND if needed, payment for that work is obvious and entirely reasonable. And with some software navigating what happens if new is needed becomes huge pressure to get people to upgrade. And that is sometimes unpleasant.
CAD is one of those for sure.
Subscription software, in many cases --and I am speaking generally here, can be easy to subscribe to.
All good right?
Well, I tend to keep software that2, Supports my skills.
Doing that would be huge payments!
As a buyer,I expect to see software coat / licensing make better sense.
by ddingus
4/2/2025 at 10:01:31 AM
Then don’t sell a lifetime licenseI don’t disagree with you. I’ve had several “lifetime licenses”, some of which were quite costly, become varying states of useless. Some were acceptable (no more updates because the vendor was acquired/folded but the software still works and can be activated) and some were hostile (no more updates because we ran out of money and decided “lifetime” isn’t actually “lifetime” or “we folded and shut down activation servers that are required to install the app without patching out drm”)
But the solution is very simple then. Just don’t promise what you can’t deliver? Why mislead customers with fine print double speak when you could just be upfront and say “license for until we run short on cash” or whatever
by hellotheretoday
4/2/2025 at 1:05:39 AM
I would like more per use options, like Adobe pro, canvas I just need them a couple times a month or web tools that I use once and that's itby kelvinjps10