Is subscription software a good thing or not?

Posted by shatteredmindofbob
Jun 10, 2016 at 03:03 AM

Personally, I hate this move towards subscription-based software.

In a world where subscription-based apps are the norm, won’t it also be the norm to completely lose the ability to use a piece of software if the business doesn’t work out? I understand developers are trying to bring in more money, but personally, I’d rather just pay a bit more upfront.

There’s also the issue of finding the sweet spot for pricing. I think Adobe has set a high bar with their subscription pricing for Photoshop. That’s a formerly $650 piece of software that’s now available via subscription for $10/month. So the question now becomes—if you’re charging $10/month, would your software be worth $650 without the subscription?

But even going with a lower price, there’s still subscription fatigue and feeling like I’m being nickel and dimed to death when I have to pay a few bucks a month for each piece of software I’m using and that adds up.

I already have several subscriptions and they have good reasons for that pricing model. Like my rented VPS where I accept that I’m renting the use of someone else’s computer. I don’t feel like I should be renting a text editor.

Finally, and this is the big one for me, I don’t make a lot of money. So, I don’t really feel like I can use a mission-critical piece of software on a subscription basis. If I have a bad month financially, it’s not a huge deal to me if I then have to go a month without Netflix. But having to go a month or two without access to say, my notes database? That’s just not a risk I can take.