1-year subscription or 1-year license?
Can you tell the difference?
Having an app in the Mac App Store has its pros and cons, but a certain challenge is its licensing model. Providing a 1-year license in which you'll be able to continue using the version you bought a license for requires a lot of custom logic (Sketch does this, for example).
You could argue a 1-year subscription equals the 1-year licensing model, but in that comparison, it's important to mention we're talking about a non-renewable subscription. You'll lose PRO features after that year, but you do get future updates. And just like you would buy a new license, you would buy a new subscription if you like the PRO version.
There have been quite some responses on my
yearly prices poll, and the
monthly prices poll. I wondered whether the price amount would influence the results. Although a strong conclusion is hard to make, I guess I learned two things from this whole conversation:
- Make it clear you're selling a non-renewable subscription
- Show the price per month if you're comparing a yearly subscription with a monthly subscription
Lastly, I want to share an article that has been inspiring in this matter.
GitHub stars won’t pay your rent tells the story of
Kitze, who had its best intentions by open-sourcing first, but it didn't pay the bills. After relaunching as a licensed product, he had way better results. It's interesting to read about the responses he got in which I liked his comparison with real life:
"
Or imagine entering a supermarket and starting to yell at the cashier “WHAT?! THIS MILK IS 3$? DO YOU KNOW THAT ON THE OTHER END..."
I'll invite you to the article to read on 🙂
We're all developers, and we're spoiled with many free products, codes, and apps that might make it hard to pay for a product. However, when you see a developer that worked hard to make your life easier asking just $2.99 per month in return, think about the number of beers and coffee you're buying every month for the same amount.
Enjoy this week's SwiftLee Weekly!