Pricing: Subscriptions, Buy Once, Lifetime Option

I usually prefer subscriptions (both as a consumer and a creator).

On the creator side, it makes sense from a sustainability standpoint like Ben mentioned. On the consumer side, I can think of two main reasons:

• There's a strong signal that this will be actively maintained and developed on (e.g. likelier to get new features and updates, have support for users)
• Subscription model offers a lot of flexibility. For instance, only subscribing for a short period of time or if I wanted to compare similar services, I won't immediately need to commit to anything.

As a consumer, I definitely agree that lifetime options are great when it comes to one less thing to worry about for sure.

As a creator, there's the question of how to make software sustainable past the initial sale since (most of the time) creators will be adding new features as time goes on.

Splitting the difference and considering both points of view, I've come to settle on version-based licensing as taking from both perspectives.

So if all you want is v1 of a product and you never need to upgrade, then great, you pay once and that's it.

If you need to upgrade/want to keep supporting the product, you can purchase a second-lifetime license at the new version number at a discount since you already supported the software once before.

However, if you're paying for an ongoing service like cloud hosting, then that is something where I think lifetime subscriptions aren't as feasible.

Would be curious to see what other people think!

I prefer lifetime options. I have a theory (based on gut instincts) that most people churn after 1-3 years, so why not base a lifetime payment around that amount?

I'm definitely subscribed to too many things, and with communities in particular, I don't want to leave, but also I don't want to keep paying if I only contribute on the small occassion.