Why pay over and over, when you may use it a few times and then not at all for a few months. Plus too much hassle to remember to renew.
Oh yeah I hate those ones that "give" you a "free trial", but you have to supply them with your credit card info and then they automatically bill you forever and ever until you notice it on your bill!
I have some software that I bought at a reasonable price and used for years, not needing the upgrades. I prefer that overall, as I also don't have to deal with upgrade issues that way.
But I also have some software I purchased and only used once or twice. In that case a subscription model would have saved me a lot.
I also have some software that's priced such that the yearly upgrades are kind of like a low subscription fee, so I happily pay for the upgrades as they come out.
Then there's Adobe Suite - it's so expensive that the monthly subscriptions make sense. And the monthly fees are relatively high, so for my occasional hobby purposes I instead am learning to use the open source alternatives (Gimp, InkScape, Scribus).
I think my favourite overall is a freemium plan - basic features are free and then if I like the product after using it for a while I can pay a sliding scale subscription or license fee based on what features I'd like to add. Maybe a 30 day full featured trial. Ideally that free trial can be started after I've gained the basic usage skills.
I don't like the 30 day trials that completely stop after the trial period. I usually don't get to try the software enough in that amount of time.
Ultimately, if the price is reasonable for the amount of use I expect to get out of it, I happily pay no matter what the model is.
Top Comments