News from the Subscription front

Posted by nathanb
Aug 16, 2018 at 06:22 PM

I don’t mind the subscription option as long as the cost is in-line. I tend to think about 2 years of subscription should be about the same as a license that I’d end up having to pay for the ‘upgrade’ every 2-3 years for. If I stick with an app for many years I suppose I’d end up paying more out of pocket than if it was a one-time license but the flip side is that the entry price to ‘try’ the full version is much lower. I figure if I’m paying a subscription for a long enough time to where I’m ‘losing money’ compared to buying a license then that’s still ok because I’m likely getting a huge value from that software.

For example I’ve been paying I think $20 or so per year for LastPass and would pay a lot more for the value I get out of it.

A troubling development is that many subscription apps are chasing ‘business teams’ so they can charge much higher ‘per user’ rates. That has priced me out of the market for a handful of apps that might be really good for personal use like Airtable and Smartsheet. Notion.so thankfully introduced a $4/month ‘individual use’ plan which I think is reasonable.