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32 Comments

Have you paid for a VSCode extension?

I am considering building a VSCode extension. Most VSCode extensions are free.

(1) If you're a developer, are you using any paid extensions / IDE plugins?

(2) Are you familiar with any popular paid extensions / plugins?

I would appreciate input from all developers.

I'm especially interested in insights from those who have created their own VSCode extensions:
@thiagom
@bourhaouta
@domagojk
@Iliashad
@adamdriscoll
@titans
@stephpsqn
@PJijin
@lucasgmys

Thank you.

  1. 2

    Hey @ryanh1, I'm a founder of Wallaby and Quokka (both are paid VS Code extensions mentioned in this thread). TabNine, WakaTime, Kite and Codota have paid plans, I have also seen a paid theme for VS Code, but can't remember the name of it.

    1. 1

      Hey Artem, this is an old post, but just wondering how do you managed to protect your extension with a license? Since anyone who downloads your extension can inspect your code and modify it to bypass any license.

    2. 1

      Thanks Artem. Very helpful. Congratulations on your success with Wallaby and Quokka.

  2. 2
    1. No.
    2. No.

    Didn't know it was a thing, and TBH, it's hard to compete with free when the community is so vibrant. I'm sure it's possible, just hard.

  3. 1

    Hi @ryanh1 :)

    eventually did you build it ? I am asking because I am also considering building a vs code extension. The idea is an editor that would allow for quick "horizontal iterations", but instead of building the entire editor myself, I am doing some research to understand if the extension road might be more simple and quick.

    Judging from the comments you got here, it might be hard (not impossible) to get money out of an extension.

    1. 1

      I didn't build it and instead moved on to other projects. I didn't see a clear path to monetization. If you build one, share a link. Would love to check it out. Good luck.

      1. 1

        Thanks! Me too, I don't see an easy path to make money with an extension :)

    1. 2

      Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks @triangle

  4. 1
    1. I have not used any paid extensions. All extensions I use are free.
    2. No, I don't know any paid extensions.
  5. 1
    1. No
    2. No

    I've been using VSCode for several years and I've never paid for an extension. Didn't even know there were paid extensions.
    I can't imagine an extension that I would pay for. It would probably have to be something that would save me a lot of money and/or time and it wouldn't be possible with any free tools.

    1. 1

      That's helpful. Thanks catico

  6. 1

    1- No
    2- Quokka

    The only class of extension I'd imagine paying for are those that make me measurably more productive. I'd consider paying for an extension that taught me keyboard shortcuts based on the mouse clicks I use most over time for example. I suspect I wouldn't pay much unless work was paying.

    1. 1

      Thank you for this answer.

    2. 2

      This comment was deleted 8 months ago.

  7. 1
    1. No
    2. No

    Didn't know paid extensions was a thing

    1. 1

      Thank you for this answer.

  8. 1

    I never paid for one. The only one I know which is paid is https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=WallabyJs.wallaby-vscode. An extension that automatically runs your tests in the background and displays the result directly in the file.
    But I didn't pay for it.
    I think the value provided must be really high, and running the tests with one command in bash is not that a hassle so I paid an extension to do it.

    Also, the bar is already really high with free extension like this one: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=VisualStudioExptTeam.vscodeintellicode
    It's using ML (or a bunch of ifs) to suggest code depending on what is typed more frequently.

    1. 1

      Thank you for this answer.

  9. 1

    1- No paid extensions
    2- I don't know any paid extensions

    I agree with the others, a paid extension must be really great and add features that it's difficult to build for a developer. I created two VScode extensions, one for the company I work for, and the other one is open source. It's an extension to get news directly in VSCode : https://github.com/stephpasquini/vscode-news

    1. 1

      Thank you for this answer.

  10. 1

    Neither but I paid for a theme license(Monokai Pro), eventually the pop-up got to me but I do use it on all my computers/environments.

    1. 1

      Thank you for this answer.

      1. 1

        I was going to bring up Monokai Pro but I see that somebody already beat me to it. The author says here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19705536 that it's profitable. Did you end up building your own extension?

  11. 1

    1 No
    2 No

    It would have to be really great to pay for it. Also, usually extensions are picked based on their popularity, so it may be difficult to get noticed without many downloads. Big community could help with that I guess.

    1. 1

      Thank you for this answer.

  12. 1

    This comment was deleted 8 months ago.

    1. 1

      +1 for Intelephense, largely because I wanted to support the developer.

      1. 1

        I paid for Intelephense as well, but I think it's worth pointing out that PHP support in VS Code is very lacking without an extension, i.e., the pain is bigger since my alternative was to switch to another editor.

    2. 1

      Thank you @meoweloper. Very helpful.

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