Do you think pay as you go or lifetime licenses will actually come back? Description:
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Checked my monthly bank statement last weekend and realized how much cash goes out auto paying for software i rarely open.
It feels like every single tool switched to a recurring monthly plan but buyers are getting super aggressive with cancellations now. Trimming down unused apps took under ten minutes.
Are you guys cutting back on monthly subscriptions, or just accepting it as normal?
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went through mine too last week, cancelled like 4 things i forgot i had. still think subscriptions win for the seller though, one time purchases are nicer for the buyer but way less stable income
I build an invoicing tool and we chose to sell it this way, so here is the view from the seller side, with the caveat that we are new and have no revenue numbers worth quoting yet.
Our main offer is a pack: 25 dollars for 25 invoices, and the credits never expire. A credit is spent only when an invoice is actually issued, so drafts cost nothing, and quotes and estimates are free on every plan. Someone who bills twice a month and someone who bills twice a year pay for what they used, and nobody gets a line on their statement for a tool they forgot about.
Jaewon is right about the cost to the seller. A pack is income you have to earn again every time, with no automatic renewal doing the work. That is also why we kept one yearly plan for people who bill every week and want the lowest rate. It renews, and it has a cancel button on the balance page, not behind a support email. Saying we have no subscription at all would be false.
My guess at your question: usage pricing comes back where usage is lumpy, like invoicing or sending, and lifetime deals stay rare because the seller pays for servers and support every month forever. The test I use on any tool: if I stopped using it for three months, would I still be paying for it?
For tools, I've always gone for paying once whenever I can. The monthly charge disappears, and I can use it on as many sites as I want, my own and my clients'.
Monthly is fine with me when something keeps giving new value, like a course or a membership. It's the tools that bug me when they switch to a subscription.